Feeling too much when working in a male-dominated field

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I’m not sure what I’ll expect Too many Neighbor Cindy Lee, MD. The memoir is called her time “trapped in a system of valuation, patriarchy and compassion and care.” It does start from that way. After neighbors seized the opportunity to get a free medical school education by joining the army, she found herself in a place of surgery where she felt everyone around her aim at her goal, facing her rudeness, condescendence and aggression Sexual allegations. She was soon unsure whether she would graduate.

But while the memoir was initially a more straightforward glimpse of the lives of women working in a male-dominated field, it ended up getting darker. Faced with what she believes is sexism at work, neighbors struggle to deal with her shaky mental health and substance abuse. Soon, she was in a spiral decline, engaging in risky behaviors, which only helped to justify her treatment by her colleagues.

Again, how to react in such an environment? Books on how women thrive in male-dominated fields, but many of them have not addressed the systemic problems that exist in such high-pressure environments…especially what all forms of sexist women endure. In addition to sexual harassment, women also reported that they were usually less capable than men, experiencing a small slight due to gender and receiving less support from their superiors. Women in these predominantly male fields also reported feeling isolated at work and shared these instances in which they had passed important opportunities and opportunities such as promotion.

Some women persevere and lose part of themselves in the process. Some women thrive in some way. Others collapse under pressure…the pressure they will never bear.

To learn more about the feeling of women working in a male-dominated field, check out some of the books below.

Nonfiction books on working in a male-dominated field

Margot Lee’s Hidden Character

I’m sure most of you know this, especially because it’s by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Jenniel ·The foundations of the Oscar-nominated film starring big names like Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst and Kevin Costner. The biography is about a group of black female mathematicians at NASA whose work allows the rocket to be successfully launched into space. Of course, these highly intelligent, talented women spent a lot of time neglected to teach public school mathematics in public schools in the South. But when labor shortages during World War II, these ladies-Hidden charactersif you want – greatly improved and eventually got the recognition it deserves. Of course, even if they enter Langley Memorial Aviation Lab, things are not easy, and that’s not because Virginia’s Jim Crow law requires them to be separated from their white counterparts. Nevertheless, they were indispensable in the United States’ victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War and the space race.

A laboratory for Rita Colwell’s PhD

Continue to recall Your own laboratoryscientist Rita Colwell faces obstacles at every turn, even when she applies for a graduate scholarship for bacteriology, that is, “we won’t waste women’s scholarships.” Colwell went on to change her field of study six times before earning her PhD, mainly due to the lack of support from her male supervisor. Colwell eventually came to this mellow route on her degree as it allowed her to work in a more interdisciplinary way. She continued to lead a team that helped reveal the sources of anthrax used in the 2001 letter attack, discovered how cholera survived between epidemics, became the head of the National Science Foundation, and more.

Good for Lauren Fleshman’s Girl

Sam has commented on this a little longer, but I want to mention it Good for girls Because of how it explores the ways for women and girls who often fail in professional sports and track and field. Fleshman, an elite distance runner, explains why female college athletes usually become victims of injuries once girls enter puberty, and why professional, competitive sports are due to eating disorders, Mental health struggles, age discrimination prevails, and more. For more information about women and running, you should surely read Sam’s post about marathons and inclusion.

Novels about working in a male-dominated field

Gabrielle Zevin tomorrow and tomorrow

I usually think of it Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow As a topic of discussion in the 90s about nerds and complex friendships. But then I remember the book also happened in the industry that brought us Gamergate, a disgusting, misogynistic, online harassment campaign against feminism, diversity and progressiveism in video game culture. so certainly Zevin’s novel – about two friends who have become creative partners in the field of video game design – also involves sexism in the gaming industry, especially through the lens of the main female protagonist, a video game designer trying to be in a male-dominated field Navigate through the challenges of gender discrimination, her credibility is everywhere. Read more about the book in Sam’s Extended Review.

Bonnie Garmus’ chemistry course

The novel received an extra buzz in 2023, thanks to its adaptation of Apple TV, but the book itself was released in 2022, at which point it quickly became a staple in book clubs. When my friend insists that I read, I am skeptical Chemistry CoursesThen, in the book depicting sexual assault, it was long delayed by a frustrating scene. But as I crossed it, I found myself fascinated by the quirky story, the story of a chemist who struggled with sexism that ended up hosting a culinary show and inspiring a revolution. In fact, it ended up being one of my favorite readings that year. Listen to the chat between Renee and Garmus here.

Tahmima Anam’s entrepreneurial wife

exist Startup WifeA great coder falls in love with a spirit seeker, gets married, and then starts a business together, develops a social media app to create meaningful rituals for their users. Can their marriage survive the next step? This book is a delicious serial of start-up culture and patriarchy, and an exploration of what lives around us and what we give meaning to. I include it here because of how the female coder ends up squeezing out of her own Dan project, and it’s because of the cult of personality built around the charismatic husband.

Kathy Wang’s Impostor Syndrome

Finally, in Impostor syndrometwo women find themselves fighting two separate patriarchal systems: the technology industry and the Russian government. In short, a woman trapped in the lower echelon of a tech company and began to suspect that her colleagues are abusing the company’s privacy environment. She is right. It turns out that her colleague was a Russian spy. But her employer disrespects her, as for spies, she Employers are starting to ask for more. How to shake in the end? (I don’t know, because this is still on my TBR!)

What are the gains from this reading list? We still have a long way to go when it comes to gender equality in the workplace, in terms of salary, diverse leadership, flexible work arrangements, guidance and more. Although some women persist, others (such as neighbors) can get into trouble, even if only temporarily. While I do feel pessimistic about the huge progress made in the current government, I know that succumbing to these feelings is concession.

How does your workplace build a system to create more gender rights?

I would love to continue the conversation in the feminist book club community.