***Shameless continuation of my previous post because my time to edit ran out***
On the "unwritten rules" side, yes the rules will be different for you because you are a woman. People will be skeptical because you are a "girl". Use it to your advantage. If you fulfill their expectations they will be more impressed than with an equivalent man of your age/experience level doing the same thing. You'll be under more scrutiny- for a while. Use that period of hyper scrutiny to be extra "on your game" and on top of things and you will earn more respect more quickly than an equivalent male (who rightly or wrongly is expected "just to know" certain stuff..) and retain that respect and also enjoy agreater amount support from your co-workers.
On the "written rules" side, the game will be the same for you as
for anyone else regardless of gender/aptitude/talent. Of late, our laws
and cultural mentality, in an attempt to rectify some of the wrongs and injustices of past eras have been a mixed bag. In many ways the "hard bigotry of racism" has been replaced by "the soft bigotry of low expectations" in the workplace as well. The real "testing" of people in an organization has moved to the "unwritten" side of the rules, because anything overt leaves mangement open to lawsuits from disgruntled employees playing various "cards" i.e. "race card".. whatever.. Be keen to the subtleties of heirarchies and strive to do work worthy of whatever "A" team exists where you work. It won't go unnoticed, because it is just so hard to find anymore.
Bottom line: The opportunity will be what you make of it. You are in the
captain's chair. Choose wisely. Steer a good course.
Last edited by trollog; 03/28/08 12:47 AM. Reason: i can't type
