By Michelle Findlay, a recruiter from the UK.
As I enter the cavernous hall, a familiar smell fills the air. Fear
fills my heart as I scan the room. Most of the people here are much
taller, physically stronger and more barbaric than me. I am the
only one of my species here. I am well and truly on some-one else's
turf.
I can even hear them babbling away in another language. Without so
much as a flinch, I calmly compose myself and prepare to stand alone
and defiantly fight my corner. As I go in deeper the strange creatures
surround me and stare, unashamedly. I look around for any vestiges
of my own species here. There are some, but quickly I realize that
they are prisoners held against their will.
No, I have not landed on an alien planet. I am a female telecoms
business owner at a giant telecoms exhibition. The creatures around
me are men. Wall to wall. The smell filling the air is testosterone.
The only other women here are dolly girls, silent honey pots to
draw men to stands by wearing outfits their Dad wouldn't approve
of.
As I prepare for battle I know in my heart the cut of my power suit
will never hide my curves, my blond hair makes me a walking target,
my girly facial features are a burden to carry. For the first time
ever, I am a man trapped in a woman's body!
I cringe inside as I observe the male creatures firmly shaking one
another's hands. They slap each other's backs, in congratulation.
Their deep voices bellow as they celebrate the fact that for two
days only, they are actually allowed to be geeky, and be adored by
fellow geeks. Strangely, they compete in virtual crazy golf
tournaments. Bizarrely, they adopt alpha male poses as they plan
the night's drunken exploits.
This is what it feels like to stand alone as a woman in a totally
male dominated industry.
So, why is telecoms still mostly men? It seems such a dichotomy,
one of the most forward-thinking industries on the planet has such
an atypical, antiquated imbalance of the sexes?
Is it the culture, is telecoms backwards, or prejudicial? In my
opinion, no. Basically, telecoms is highly technical and engineering
and this is generally the realm of men. Programmers, engineers and
designers are mostly men. Some bright spark will tell you it’s
because we are wired differently or blabber on about frontal lobes
etc. The truth is men seem to love it, while women get so bored we
would rather stick needles in our eyes.
And, telecoms men can at times be a bunch of bitchy little girls.
I can't tell you the amount of times I have had placements blow out
at the golden handshake stage because "I don't like him" or "I
couldn't work with him" Unreal!
So am I disadvantaged at a telecoms show by being one of very few
women? Not at all. These men are outrageously technical. I nod
pleasantly as they bamboozle me with a bewildering array of acronyms.
I smile sweetly as they speak to me in ancient Swahili. I echo their
visual cues as they evangelise this technical underworld that is
to me, duller than the History Channel.
Of course, men will speak to me simply because I am female. I never
resort to flaunting my feminine wiles, my eyelids never flutter in
duplicity. Inevitable attempts to pick me up are brushed off with
a distant, professional stare and polite change of subject. To me
it's all about the confidence. If I compete with the assumptive
arrogance of a man, I stand a chance. If I charismatically give out
the impression that I deserve respect even though I don't have
the... ahem... anatomy, I might just succeed in their playground.
I could never say that being female was part of the business plan,
or if it works out better or worse for me. All I know is that I
always skip out of a telecoms show with a sneaky smile having won
double the leads of my male counterparts. In this battleground I
always fight fairly, but secretly, winning the battle of the sexes
always tastes so sweet. Some call it exploitation, I call it sound
business sense.
Michelle is owner of Synergyze Telecoms Group.
They offer B2B services to Telecoms startups. She also does web design
and is an active member and fan of the Joomla
project.
(Editor's note: I'm interested in your comments on Michelle's article. I think it's an interesting restatement of what we've been talking about in the open source communities this summer. There's been much talk about treated equally, but Michelle makes no bones about using the differences to her advantage. Is this good, bad or just part of life?)
