The good old boys

Until today, I thought I had an in; I thought I had worked my way into being part of the local political scene. Until today, I thought I was respectable, bright, articulate-- smart, even. It turns out that none of this matters because-- guess what-- I'm a girl.

I've been working on a local campaign for one of my dad's good friends. Don't get me wrong-- the man I'm working for is an absolute peach and a great politician. I'm working on his campaign in hopes that I can network and perhaps find a job, or at least learn a little bit about the political process while helping him out. I've been doing some pretty boring, monotonous stuff, but I figured that that's part of starting at the bottom. Nope-- I'm just filling my gender role as secretary who can't be trusted with any decisions or excess knowledge. Fuck that. I have a degree from a great school, have a proven track record with various legal and political internships. I studied abroad at Oxford University. I'm never this full of myself, but give me a break. I'm not a secretary. I wasn't just being handed the peon work. If I were a guy, a dude, a bro, I would be going to the staff meetings and giving actual input to the campaign.

As it so happens, my roommate's friend emailed me to find a spot working on the same campaign I'm working on. I forwarded his resume to my "boss", thinking nothing of it; I thought, perhaps, that I would see him stuffing envelopes with me some weekend. I was wrong. Oh, how I was wrong.

Not only is he much more involved than I am, but he is invited to every campaign staff meeting. I am not. He is invited to breakfast and lunch with members of the campaign. I am not. While I do data entry work, he gets phone calls from our "boss" about events. I am the one with the degree. I am the one with a relevant degree. This kid is still an undergrad at UMass studying landscape architecture. Yet, he has surpassed me completely in this case.

This evening I saw our candidate at a city event. He told me that I looked great-- he always compliments me. It wasn't meant in a dirty way, but rather in a "that's our only real use for you" way. I'd rather have a penis and be ugly-- maybe I would get to do what I want in life.

If this didn't make me bristle enough, I found out later that my roommate's friend had spoken to the candidate earlier today and had been to several staff meetings. I've been toiling on this campaign for nearly a month now, and for what? To NOT be invited to staff meetings, to NOT learn anything about the election process, to NOT get what I want out of this venture. I was the one who forwarded this guy's resume to the candidate; I never thought he'd surpass me so quickly. I think the real translation of "you look great" is GLASS FUCKING CEILING.

Am I overreacting? No. Because this evening, me, my roommate, and her friend ran into the mayor of Easthampton. I expected him to recognize me. I have had several face-to-face conversations with the mayor in his office. I am the youngest woman to serve on any city committee. I have lived in this town all my life; my parents both serve on committees.

The mayor recognized my roommate's friend, not me. Why? Because he had offered to work on the mayor's campaign and had met him, oh, say, once. The mayor then proceeded to jokingly ask Alexis's friend if he wanted to be filmed with him for an interview. Oh, joy. Apparently, all the conversations I've had with the mayor have been disregarded. I feel as though I have been put up with or tolerated. I feel like my degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

There is something starkly wrong here. I am not inarticulate, nor am I dumb. I am smart yet still willing to learn. This, however, equates to "you can do secretarial work". If I had a dick and no degree, I could get further. What. The. Fuck.


The real conundrum here? If I'm not aggressive enough, I'll get nowhere. If I'm too aggressive, I'll be a ball-breaking bitch (Hillary Clinton, apparently). I'm not sure whether I want to surge forward or fall by the wayside. I'm too young to be so tired of the good ol' boy system.