A Woman In a A Man's World by Maria

A Woman In a A Man's World by Maria - June 2016 Scholarship Essay

I have truly been privileged to have been born a woman into a family that believes in gender equality. Understandably, there are people in the world who don’t share the same views. My school has helped me grow in many ways. However, there have been incidences where certain teachers had discouraged me from taking subjects such as calculus and physics ‘because I’m a girl’, whereas the boys were encouraged, and even discouraged from taking subjects such as art and music.

Misogyny and sexism are unfortunately deeply rooted in many of us. We are ingrained to think women belong in a specific category, and men belong in another. It is a subconscious mentality, one that we do not choose, but it is one that affects those around us nonetheless. It was difficult being one of only five girls in a calculus class. It was also discouraging when the physics teacher constantly compared the girls in the class to the boys, as if our performance is determined by our gender. Studies may claim that boys excel in mathematics and girls in language, but I am not a statistic in a study, I am a human being who works just as hard as her male peers and deserves to be treated with the same respect and encouragement in my studies.

The inequality and the lack of encouragement from my teachers and male peers drove me to work harder in subjects that girls supposedly don’t perform well in. I could have simply given up, but I made it my goal to excel to prove my teachers wrong. I channeled my anger into performing better, and I succeeded in my goal. I was one of the only students who scored above 90% in my calculus class, raising my name in the eyes of my calculus teacher. Had I not encountered this experience I wouldn’t have learned so much about the deep rooted sexism in our society, and I wouldn’t have learned how to deal with it. In addition, I took this opportunity to study harder and truly excel in the difficult subjects. Last but not least, I learned that an average of 92% in calculus is in fact not impossible.