Mountain Climbing into a "Man's World"

Woman's empowerment is a major topic in media all over the world right now. From speaking out about sexual assault to woman having the right to make their own choices in whatever capacity we have come a long way, but there is still a long way to go.

I personally have recently been facing a challenge in an educational setting that I truly did not see coming. As an 18 year old woman training to go into EMS I have realized that it is still very much an old dog's club and that is something I wasn't prepared for.

In a class of 24 there are 3 girls. One, a 5'11 hockey player, the second, a 5'9 rugby player and the third being myself, a 5'2 figure skater. All of us have been taking far less seriously than the 21 men in our class despite the fact that the 3 of us have the highest grades in the course. Each of us being told that we should never be afraid to ask one of the men to help us lift or move a patient, asked if we need someone else to carry our trauma kits and offered exemptions from the more strenuous activities. Safety of course should always be a priority but we have all proven time and time again that we are capable of carrying around our classmates as well as the weighted stretchers (305lbs).

This assumption of weakness though is probably the most mild of the things I have faced. Both of the other girls in my class have always presented themselves as tomboys and are quite tall as opposed to myself. I have always enjoyed makeup and being a figure skater gets relabelled as a girly girl pretty quickly. A note for all men, or women for that matter, referring to a short woman as shrimp, munchkin, cutie pie, short-cakes or pipsqueak is and never will be empowering. On top of that the fact that I am a girl in a class full of men is not an invitation for you to hit on me, whistle at me, refer to me as though hottie or cutie is my name, or take a few extra seconds on my chest while we practice our physical exams. I have given you no invitations to do any of these things and no matter how harmless your intentions it is sexual harassment.

I take my career choice incredibly seriously and if I had any doubt in my mind about my ability to do this job properly I wouldn't be here, but here is the truth; I am just as good a candidate for this job as any other applicant or student. If I were physically unable I would not be passing the course nor would I have been deemed fit be the college of emergency medicine and therefore any belittlement of meow disbelief of my ability due to the fact that I am a woman is sexism and occupational prejudice. As a final note if you are a professor or instructor of any kind in a career that is dominated by men, making comments and jokes towards your female students simply enables and encourages the fellow students to do it as well. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good joke as much as the next guy (or gal), but the moment it becomes a subtle way for you to call me incapable I will not stand for it. Jokes are funny, sexism is not.

Ladies we have come a long way in the past few year, but our work is not done. We cannot settle for good enough, we cannot be told we are trying to do a man's work or that we are never going to get there. We may be girls, but never doubt that we can rule the world and never should we settle for anything else.