signorina
I like factories. I like them because they are – or should be – simple by design. No frills, lean, purpose oriented. Unpopular opinion: most FMCG factories are far from being rocket science. Now, after nearly 30 years of relationship with many of them I am certain of what I say. But when I started, the way things were just governed by “old common sense” (or so they should) seemed a bit too simplistic. Around a pretty appalled and certainly not preoccupied me, fifty something old men were running around, tearing their hair, telling me such a complicated and dangerous place was not the right one for a young, delicate “signorina”. A “signorina” with 5 years of university under the belt and that could drive a tractor, in fact, but they did not care.
On paper, I was the project leader and the one paying for industrial trials, yet to everyone, workers and supervisors alike, I would only be “that girl”. Sometimes the words were spoken with paternal condescension, at other times with open skepticism, but either way, they would try to instantly erase my years of study and my authority.
At first, the temptation was to make oneself smaller. Accept the condescension, if it will make the job done faster, sort of accepting the marginal role assigned to you. Allow them to I am of the practical sort, after all. But then I knew my superiors would tell me to be resilient and assertive. To make myself respected.
My dad, a man born wise, did explain to me, once, what I call the universal truth of panties. He would say that how you appear to the world when you raise your voice or become physical, one way or another, depends on what’s in your panties. Or better on your genitals. Literally. He said to me when I complained about not being listened to in a heated argument at school: “remember, a man who slams a fist on a table has balls. A woman that does the same is hysterical. It is always genitals, but the difference is enormous. I am sorry to tell you you have to find your way to live with it and sort it out for yourself.”
As a coach, and like my father before me, I am sorry to say that you have to find your way and your voice to sort it out. The solution to a technical world that do not like having women around is not universal.