When will women finally be taken seriously?

When will we finally be taken seriously?

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This evening I watched a very good documentary about Bitcoin, called Magic Money: The Bitcoin Revolution, and I was truly enjoying it until minute 19, when a hacker starts talking about the possible identity of the inventor of Bitcoin, Satochi Nakamoto, referring to this person or entity as “HE”.

Not at one point did he even suggest that it could also be a woman. He even goes on to say that Satochi may be one or several “very smart guys”. Later on, the video transitions to an interview with Bitcoin Investor Max Wright, who also seems to be convinced that Satochi is a “He”.

This mentality is exactly what is wrong with this world, and why there is still so much left to accomplish in the field of gender equality.

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I wonder, why is it so hard to imagine that it might be a very smart woman behind it all? I don’t pretend to know the answer to the Satochi mystery, but it would be nice to at least consider the possibility that a female could be involved.

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Sexism starts at a very early age

Girls are assumed to like playing with dolls and all things pink. We are taught to dream to be pretty princesses, so that we can eventually reach our main goal, which is to find our prince charming (who will then get us pregnant, fat, and make sure we'll stay at home...LOL)

Boys are assumed to be strong, to like more complicated games such as Lego and other building and problem solving toys that stimulate the mind.

The experiment below will show you that people automatically assume different interests for boys and girls, and that we are thus conditioned to believe that one sex is more interested or more capable to do certain jobs.

Later on in life, through education, society teaches us that there are "men's jobs and women's jobs". Here are some clichés that are still true nowadays:

Woman's job examples:

• Hair dresser
• Stay-at-home "mom"
• Secretary, or assistant
• cleaning "lady"
• nurse

Typical men's jobs:

• Doctor
• Engineer
• Scientist, Chemist, physicist
• Lawyer
• Construction worker
• Astronaut
• Fire "man"
• Investment banker

We may not be openly told that we cannot do men's jobs, but society keeps reinforcing these beliefs and brainwashing men and women alike into accepting these pre-defined roles.

Check this other experiment which was conducted in a kindergarten below:

Sure, things are slowly changing, but we are far from equality of opportunity.

To give you a personal example, as a woman, I’ve had to deal with men underestimating me constantly. It became especially apparent when I joined the Investment Banking industry, which is majorly male dominated. Immediately after joining my (100% male) team in Debt Capital Markets as a junior analyst, I was assumed to be the new secretary on the team. Not only by my male colleagues, but also by female counterparts. I can’t remember how many times I was asked to make hotel reservations, or to type business card information into the intranet system. I had to constantly clarify that I was not a secretary, and that they could make their own damn reservations.

Please don’t misunderstand what I’m trying to say. There is absolutely no shame in being a secretary, but why is it that a female is automatically assumed to perform clerical duties?

I hated the financial world for many reasons, but sexism, especially the underestimation of a woman’s skills compared to a man’s, is what made me want to puke my guts out day after day.

There is no scientific proof that a woman can't do any job a man does. Our ovaries do not prevent our brains from functioning, I can assure you. We are just as capable of working as hard as men (and we do!), and have equal intellectual and analytical skills. Unfortunately, women are often judged by their physical appearance, and only rarely by our intellect. If we are pretty enough to serve as eye candy, we may get jobs based on our ability to charm our employer. Who cares if we’re smart after all? As long as we have a pretty smile and look good in a tight dress...

Often when I tell people that I’ve worked in finance or that I have a Masters Degree from an Ivy League school, I get reactions of surprise by men. But why? Is it so unthinkable that I could at the very least be as smart as a them, or God forbid even smarter?

Over centuries, women have been undervalued, and their achievements have been hidden from public knowledge. And if they weren't hidden on purpose, they were simply disregarded as being unimportant.

Give women credit where it's due!

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Only in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) you will find a long list of influential women see the top 10 here

Have you heard about any of them before today?

This is only in the science field. I could add many more contemporary women in the political sphere, in the business and financial industry, human rights activists, artists and journalists:

Forbes magazine lists 20 of the most powerful women in politics here, and Fortune.com will show you 10 of the most successful business women out there

It makes me sad that we have to fight to be taken seriously most of the time. Here in Panama, which is a country that still has strong gender stereotypes, I've come to a point where I simply resign, and say "my husband is not here right now and I don’t know anything about this”, when someone knocks on my door asking for something that I don't feel like doing.

Of course that is not true, but I figure that if men are going to underestimate me, I might as well make them pay for their sexism by playing dumb. After all that’s what’s expected of me.

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