38th Street
38th Street is the place where I lived and played as a young girl – a typical street in a North American city. It was the kind of street that exists in every city or town where people grow up and learn how to conduct themselves in society – where normal is learned from those around us: our parents, teachers, siblings, and peers. For me, it was where I walked down the street with two older brothers, when I was seven years old, on the way to the swimming pool because our mother made them take me along. Partway down the street my oldest brother stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and turned to me saying, "You can come with us, but you’d better learn to act like a boy." It was on this street where I learned how I needed to behave in order to be included, or to feel like I belong.
38th Street represents typical environments that shape us through our experiences and informs how we learn to fit in when those environments don’t necessarily include us. We adapt to become one of the cool girls, adept at being one of the guys. We are not feminists; you don’t have to worry about us. We want to survive in our environment, be included, and not be seen as any kind of troublemaker. We have learned over time that when we speak up - our membership in the boys club falls into question, so we are careful not to do that. We follow unwritten rules and develop a thick skin to demonstrate our resilience and strength.
“38th Street builds knowledge about social behaviour relevant to women in STEM and women in trades, so we can build better for the future”
38th Street is about understanding the social fabric, with a very specific pattern, that we are all woven in to, that we can’t separate ourselves from, both women and men. It is about understanding and appreciating how this fabric impacts women working in STEM, as well as women working in trades. 38th Street is about understanding the efforts made by these women to belong and to be successful in a male-dominated environment. It validates our experiential reality and gives us the language to have a different conversation going forward – language to challenge both explicit and implicit biases and have significant impact on the fabric’s pattern.
38th Street builds knowledge about social behaviour relevant to women in STEM and women in trades, so we can build better for the future, benefiting ourselves as well as the women (and men) who will surely follow us. Knowledge coupled with our experience provides the wisdom required to lead. It’s time to demonstrate a new normal — one that allows us to be our authentic selves. 38th Street encourages us to take action that allows the full participation of all women (and men), not only the ones who know how to cope in a non-inclusive space. It’s time for less affirmative action and more transformational action.
38th Street empowers careers and lives for women in STEM and women in trades.