I Swear, I'm gonna wear a strap-on to work tomorrow....

... and see if it doesn't increase my visibilty. Y'see, I'm been working on a project with a male co-worker, and despite that fact that we've pretty much split the design work and I've done the lion's share of the coding (while he was equally busy with database and hardware configuration), people keep approaching him to talk about the work. I don't mind when they talk to him about the database and hardware configuration (see above), but when it's about the overall product, the design, the code, the presentation, I start to feel a little bit ignored. This is a product I worked late in the evenings to deliver, I came in on weekends. He didn't. I usually just move in more closely and include myself in the discussion, assuming that I have something to contribute. I do.

After it had happened several times in a row this morning, however, I stood up and pointedly walked away. In retrospect, not only was the point missed, I lost some credibility by doing so. Clearly I wasn't interested in the product's future development.

And here's the rub: even though I recognise the sexism and my male co-worker has even started to notice the inequity, I haven't yet confronted it head on. I haven't spoken up boldly to each perpetrator and said, "Excuse me, you'll want to include me in this discussion."

Inside I'm frustrated and I'm angry and I just feel like crying like a woman.