I Was Subjected To Humiliation Because I Was A New Joinee Doing Well

I can define myself as a girl with modern thought processes, values and a strong belief in gender equality. I am someone who dares to dream and spreads her wings, though aware of the fact of constantly being let down and judged in this harsh male dominating society.

I have never been particularly career oriented, but I always wanted to have a job to learn and grow in this competitive world. Being an above average student, I opted for a non-medical stream in college. I wasn’t very clear about my goals, ambitions and didn’t know what I wanted as a career for myself. But through giving brief seminars and school presentations, I started realizing that what I can do best is teaching. In fact, it is fair to say that teaching had not just become my goal, but also a passion that I wanted to pursue.

I completed my B.Tech and since I wanted to become a teacher, I opted for an M.Tech. After my M.Tech, I joined one of the prestigious engineering colleges as an assistant professor and started living my dream. I got to learn many new things and managed to win my students’ respect.

Everything was going well but after one year, I had to resign since I was getting married and had to relocate. With a heavy heart, I left my job at the college and started looking for a job at the new location, after a few months of my marriage. With a little struggle, I finally managed to get a job in another organization. The best part of this organization was that it had its own academic centre, which is why I got an opportunity to teach engineering courses.

Right from the environment to the staff to the facilities, everything was good here. I was happy and content. I got to work with one of the best teams in the office and was happy to share my space with such learned personalities. Soon, I got satisfactory work and there I was, ready to shine. Whatever work was given to me, I did it with zeal and diligence and was being praised for the quality of my work too.

But as the days passed, I started experiencing that people were not talking to me properly and some were ignoring me; the reason for which I couldn’t understand. Then one of my colleagues told me that some of the staff isn’t happy with me for being praised by the seniors. I decided to ignore this matter and focus on my work, but then one day this incident happened:

 

I was asked by a senior to work on a document for a client. Meanwhile, my immediate boss also gave me some work related to the same client. I thought of finishing both the tasks and wanted to mail it together to the senior when he called to check the status of the task he had given me. I updated him on the progress and about another document that is to be sent to him, which I was finishing. Without hearing me further, he started abusing me with the kind of insult I wouldn’t take, leaving me in utter shock.

I filed a written complaint against him. Even though my boss had taken an action against that senior, much to my disappointment, I was being made fun of and was the laughing stock for everyone. I was subjected to being sarcastically addressed as ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ and the sort.

 

Soon I found out that a few seniors at work were not happy with the new joinees, including me. But as time passed, everything came back to normal, including the professional relationship between me and my senior. But one thing I changed from my end was that when the boss gave me any work, I would straight away tell him that I won’t do it because I don’t have permission from my senior; and that I don’t want to be humiliated again.

This made my colleagues understand my perspective on the issue and made that senior apologise to me in front of the entire team. I forgave him on the condition that I will not tolerate such misbehaviour in the future.

I guess this is a story a lot of women will identify with. Women who decided to step out of the house to achieve something on their own. If a woman is successful, the credit does not go to her experience but is presumed to have been achieved through 'other ways'. And if a woman is unable to achieve a target, she is termed incapable of doing a task. No matter what a woman does, she is constantly judged. Though a lot of improvements have been made for a woman to breathe, still a lot needs to be done.

This is a personal narrative by Sakshi Bhatnagar, a young, enthusiastic and aspiring writer. Passionate about sharing her thoughts with the world by converting them into words, she is an extensive blogger and has been writing for different websites. She strongly supports women empowerment and thus, most of her articles are based on the same. A software professional and a mother to a little girl, she is focussed on career growth, wants to accomplish her career goals in this competitive world and encourages her counterparts to work towards a better career.

Have you faced any issues at your workplace? You can share the story with us in the comments below.