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Fact is people make assumptions of each other everyday, even if it's unintentional. But it is with merit. Each engineer brings something different in the way they perceive the music and sounds around them. This difference between men is based on their environmental up bringing. Whereas, the difference between men and women is both environmental and scientific.
Women think more with the left side of the brain, they are more verbal, and perceive more colors and are more connected to their emotion because of this. Where it really bothers me is when women in audio try to think more like a man because they think men want them to prove themselves first. I'm sure many men don't know how to deal with women in their work place, so they take that attitude, which in turn results in them try to be like us more. I believe these men and women aren't just hurting themselves but also the advancement of audio in general.
We shouldn't be asking women to be equal to the guy's way of thinking, but we should embrace the difference in their thinking as something we can learn and gain from. The women I have learned most from in audio are the ones that follow their verbal left brain strengths, rather than nonverbal physical characteristics preferred by men. And the key thing they have taught me is there are many things I can't replicate without them by my side. Those are the ones that have opened my mind enough to show me that I need their help and it's not something I can 'learn' just by being around them. I can't think like them, and I need them around to help access that part of my thinking.
It's not a man's world in audio, and it's not a woman's world in audio. It's an us world. And the longer we both keep separate, or try to adapt to the other sexes way of working and thinking, the more we sell ourselves short.
We can't ask women to adapt to our world because it just isn't fair to them. And if it definitely not fair to us when we ask them to adapt.
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