Hi all,
this post is to partially vent and also get everyone's opinion. SO I am a woman and I have worked for a private practice optometrist's office for 2 years now. The male owner (in his mid thirties) is constantly dropping the most sexist comments about woman and optometry. One time he straight up tells me I would have a easy time getting in if only I was a man. What are you implying? That I should seriously consider a sex change? He constantly makes small comments that too many women and not enough men are in the profession - it obviously really really bothers him and I do not think it should. To me it says that he feels inferior as an OD because if woman can do the job it is somehow less than.
It went so far that one time I attended a a party at an optometry school's president's house and my boss goes on a tangent about the incoming class being all women TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SCHOOL (who is in his mid sixties). Beyond being an awkward social faux pas.. and the president calmly cites some sociological studies that woman are participating in all professional fields, that there is a general trend that men are opting for technical education or finding careers where a graduate degree is unnecessary and that we should embrace it. Glory moment for me that the president shuts him down, but I still find it incredibly disrespectful, especially considering that his first business partner is a woman who now runs her own practice successfully and our subsequent associate doctors have all been intelligent woman who have administered a very high quality of patient care.
On Tuesday I get irritated all over again because one of my boss's friend and associate optometrist (who works for us every now and then) stops by the office and is small talking with our full time associate OD (who is a woman who only graduated a year ago). I overhear him telling her how the new class at the optom school in our city is "majority women again..... :/ ". It took a lot for me to not smack him in the face. Like do you not realize you are telling an accomplished woman this to her face?who are you that is so high and mighty? For two years I've learned about your personal life & OD career pitfalls and failures, but somehow you are still better because of your gender??
Have any other women encountered that? Maybe while shadowing or talking to other women optometrists? Maybe while working as a optician or technician like me? I have met many many wonderful OD's who I have admiration and respect for and never once did I factor gender in the equation. What loses my respect is this kind of misogynistic rhetoric, no matter what.
this post is to partially vent and also get everyone's opinion. SO I am a woman and I have worked for a private practice optometrist's office for 2 years now. The male owner (in his mid thirties) is constantly dropping the most sexist comments about woman and optometry. One time he straight up tells me I would have a easy time getting in if only I was a man. What are you implying? That I should seriously consider a sex change? He constantly makes small comments that too many women and not enough men are in the profession - it obviously really really bothers him and I do not think it should. To me it says that he feels inferior as an OD because if woman can do the job it is somehow less than.
It went so far that one time I attended a a party at an optometry school's president's house and my boss goes on a tangent about the incoming class being all women TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SCHOOL (who is in his mid sixties). Beyond being an awkward social faux pas.. and the president calmly cites some sociological studies that woman are participating in all professional fields, that there is a general trend that men are opting for technical education or finding careers where a graduate degree is unnecessary and that we should embrace it. Glory moment for me that the president shuts him down, but I still find it incredibly disrespectful, especially considering that his first business partner is a woman who now runs her own practice successfully and our subsequent associate doctors have all been intelligent woman who have administered a very high quality of patient care.
On Tuesday I get irritated all over again because one of my boss's friend and associate optometrist (who works for us every now and then) stops by the office and is small talking with our full time associate OD (who is a woman who only graduated a year ago). I overhear him telling her how the new class at the optom school in our city is "majority women again..... :/ ". It took a lot for me to not smack him in the face. Like do you not realize you are telling an accomplished woman this to her face?who are you that is so high and mighty? For two years I've learned about your personal life & OD career pitfalls and failures, but somehow you are still better because of your gender??
Have any other women encountered that? Maybe while shadowing or talking to other women optometrists? Maybe while working as a optician or technician like me? I have met many many wonderful OD's who I have admiration and respect for and never once did I factor gender in the equation. What loses my respect is this kind of misogynistic rhetoric, no matter what.
