Well, if the teacher I was supposed to have in Grade 6 had anything to do with it, I would never have become a health professional. Why? Because “girls can’t do science”. This man passed away in the Christmas school holidays just before he was scheduled to be my Grade 6 teacher at school. Ten years later I graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Optometry) achieving a grade of first class honours. I’d hate to think that had this man been my grade 6 teacher he may have influenced me to go in a different direction.

And what about uni itself, and my actual career?

So there was this guy in our year at uni. Let’s call him Bob (not his real name). Bob decided that it was appropriate to bring a camera to uni and threaten to put photos of me on the internet. I think I was too young and naive to realise how much of a breach of my privacy this was, because if it happened again now, I would certainly take the matter further. After a couple of times of politely asking him to respect my boundaries being met with more threats, I gave Bob the verbal barrage I thought was required to in order to make it stop. It did stop, but in retrospect I should have alerted the faculty staff as it needed to be made clear that this type of behaviour would not be tolerated by me or any other student. I only spoke to a couple of female classmates about what was happening, and would hate to think that Bob moved onto others because he wasn’t going to get what he wanted from me.

So fast-forward to when I graduated.

With all the females in the profession now, it’s almost hard to believe that optometry was male-dominated when I graduated just over 13 years ago. The first company I worked for had 3 partners, all male. Two were fantastic, but the one who “looked after” my branch in no way tried to hide his sexism. When I told him about a patient’s glasses that I hadn’t been able to get right, and the fact that I’d had to give the patient a refund, he told me all about what a terrible job I’d done. But then went so far as to say the patient “may never trust another female health practitioner ever again”. Perhaps just a wee bit uncalled for?

And the patients. Oh dear. The patients. Over the years I’ve had a number of patients ask me out. I would really like it if they respected the fact that I am in my workplace, and do not wish to be hit on. I also didn’t appreciate the older male patient, who thought it was appropriate to pick up the ruler off my desk and hit me on my backside when I leaned over to put a tissue in the bin. Nor the older man who tried to hug me.

The one what really bothered me this year though was the neighbour of a work colleague whose house I was staying at during a recent locum trip. I said “hello” during a 1 minute conversation and then went inside the house to finish the washing up. Apparently he spent the rest of the conversation with my work colleague staring at me through the kitchen window when she told him I was the optometrist filling in while the practice owner was away. He was apparently “gobsmacked” that anyone so “young and female” could be qualified for the job. She told him that this is my 14th year of practise and he apparently stared even harder.

I mean, really? Are our stereotypes as to what a health practitioner looks like really that entrenched?

And am I saying that any of these men are “bad”? No. I just think they are afflicted with the unconscious sexism that is rife in our society. As women we might not be sure “where the line is” and what constitutes actual sexual harassment and at what point we “should” be concerned. And even the men who aren’t deliberately trying to harass us perhaps don’t see anything wrong with their comments and actions and think that women “just can’t handle a joke”.

I really think that education on what constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace wouldn’t go astray in our university courses so that both men and women know what is appropriate.

I think the #MeToo hashtag has been great in starting a wide discussion around sexual harassment, and far more seriously, sexual assault. I think that it’s important for everyone involved in these scenarios to seek the support they require. Both females and males.

Amanda is the founder of My Health Career. You can read about why she started My Health Career here.