Frustrated scientist

I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, but I've always loved science. I wanted to work in a science field. Then came college.

Let me tell you, women aren't less interested or not as able to work in science fields, we're discouraged from working in the field. It was subtle and not so subtle things. Things like lab partners turning in the exact same report (as you would expect) and the grade being lower for the woman to job advisors going out of their way to track down the guys while women have to beg to get job leads and end up being directed to volunteer opportunities.

Then comes the actual job field. I was told that unless I wanted to do what I could to prove that I was american indian, I could pretty much give up on getting a job. I didn't believe them, at first. I applied for job after job. One job was supposed to be based strictly on a numerical formula. I had to take a test (and they provided our rankings based on the test) and submit my transcript. After that, there was supposed to be very little chance that someone in the top 3 wouldn't get hired for the 4 positions available. I was #2 on the test. I knew 5 of the 6 other applicants, they were classmates, I know that only 1 had a higher GPA. So #2 on the test, at worst #3 on transcript and I didn't get hired.

After that, I'll admit it, I gave up. I was tired of banging my head against the wall - it's not like the jobs paid that well anyway, $25k to start.

So, now I'm in another field, I basically push paper all day long. I like my job, for the most part, but it doesn't feed my soul the way science did.

A pox on men who think women just aren't interested in science. Bullshit, you won't let us in, assholes.