Hardened feminists: this will open your heart

Ever feel like a hardened feminist?  Remember your time in the workplace with some level of appreciation for how difficult it was and possibly still is for women in some industries?

Perhaps you’ve stopped wonder if the world works differently for young students today facing sexual stereotyping in male-dominant careers like engineering?  This  letter from a young male engineering student to the women in his class will touch your heart.  The piece was published in The Easterner, and was written by Jared Maudlin.

He wrote:

“To the women in my engineering classes:
While it is my intention in every other interaction I share with you to treat you as my peer, let me deviate from that to say that you and I are in fact unequal.
Sure, we are in the same school program, and you are quite possibly getting the same GPA as I, but does that make us equal?
I did not, for example, grow up in a world that discouraged me from focusing on hard science.
Nor did I live in a society that told me not to get dirty, or said I was bossy for exhibiting leadership skills.
In grade school I never had to fear being rejected by my peers because of my interests.
I was not bombarded by images and slogans telling me that my true worth was in how I look, and that I should abstain from certain activities because I might be thought too masculine.
I was not overlooked by teachers who assumed that the reason I did not understand a tough math or science concept was, after all, because of my gender.
I have had no difficulty whatsoever with a boys club mentality, and I will not face added scrutiny or remarks of my being the “diversity hire.”
When I experience success the assumption of others will be that I earned it.
So, you and I cannot be equal. You have already conquered far more to be in this field than I will ever face.”
Sincerely,
Jared Mauldin
Senior in Mechanical Engineering

What do you think?