Feeling bummed out tonight and thought I would come here to vent.
I was on a committee while I was in grad school for a couple of years as the student representative. In that role, I did what I consider to be a pretty good job in my role. I occasionally heard that I was respected because of my efforts, but never really got any massive amounts of positive feedback. I stuck with the role mainly because it was a good opportunity to network and make contacts, but it appeared that while I made some contacts, there were no real great benefits to my future career.
As I graduated this year, I passed my role to an attractive young female grad student. The difference in the committee's reception to me was striking. Despite the fact that she was doing exactly the same things I was doing with the same output, the committee almost immediately offered to pay her for the same role I did as a volunteer and which she took on as a volunteer. Higher up members of the committee offered to assist her with promoting events in a way that they never bothered to offer me, and they all keep praising her effusively for the same work I did for several years.
This is a trend that I have noticed occurring quite consistently for the past few years. I completed a residency in a public health setting. Despite the fact that they were happy to ask me to do extra work for them on a volunteer basis, I was never offered paid work which instead always seem to be provided to young, attractive women. In one instance, I was asked to do extra unpaid work on a project while an attractive young woman who had been there two weeks (so they had no opportunity to guage her ability) was paid to do the same work.
For a very long time, it appears that any efforts I made professionally would be automatically less valued in comparison to the young attractive women who are in the same profession and I would not be offered the same professional opportunities such women are offered on a plate. While my initial reaction is to simply give up as I won't be given a fair shake, I understand intellectually this is simply self-defeating. My question is what can I do about it? Should I simply avoid working in organisations, where it seems I will keep running into the same issues, and instead focus on creating success on my own terms? Is this an obstacle a lot of men face, and simply something I should get over? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I was on a committee while I was in grad school for a couple of years as the student representative. In that role, I did what I consider to be a pretty good job in my role. I occasionally heard that I was respected because of my efforts, but never really got any massive amounts of positive feedback. I stuck with the role mainly because it was a good opportunity to network and make contacts, but it appeared that while I made some contacts, there were no real great benefits to my future career.
As I graduated this year, I passed my role to an attractive young female grad student. The difference in the committee's reception to me was striking. Despite the fact that she was doing exactly the same things I was doing with the same output, the committee almost immediately offered to pay her for the same role I did as a volunteer and which she took on as a volunteer. Higher up members of the committee offered to assist her with promoting events in a way that they never bothered to offer me, and they all keep praising her effusively for the same work I did for several years.
This is a trend that I have noticed occurring quite consistently for the past few years. I completed a residency in a public health setting. Despite the fact that they were happy to ask me to do extra work for them on a volunteer basis, I was never offered paid work which instead always seem to be provided to young, attractive women. In one instance, I was asked to do extra unpaid work on a project while an attractive young woman who had been there two weeks (so they had no opportunity to guage her ability) was paid to do the same work.
For a very long time, it appears that any efforts I made professionally would be automatically less valued in comparison to the young attractive women who are in the same profession and I would not be offered the same professional opportunities such women are offered on a plate. While my initial reaction is to simply give up as I won't be given a fair shake, I understand intellectually this is simply self-defeating. My question is what can I do about it? Should I simply avoid working in organisations, where it seems I will keep running into the same issues, and instead focus on creating success on my own terms? Is this an obstacle a lot of men face, and simply something I should get over? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
