I am the only woman in my dept and the also the only one amongst HODs ..... it's hard really really hard at times , people have lesser tolerance when it comes to a woman making mistakes and men have a very tough time accepting a woman as their boss. They really made my life hell and still do at times. I sometimes feel that I am fighting a war with them on daily basis.
But at the end of the day don't care what they think I just concentrate on my work because I need to earn money for home , my self and my daughter....I need to run my life.
just do your work , learn to ignore because ignorance is a BLISS and focus on what on the needs for which you are working.
My situation is similar to yours but with women. I work with mostly girls who seem to think it's okay for them to put there hands on my shoulder or my leg whenever they want. Some even playfight me which I find slightly amusing but inappropriate. Just the other day I was sitting down and this girl came up, and wrapped her arms around me from behind. I don't get what that's about.
I could probably understand if I was friends with these girls outside work or even showed I remotely cared about there life outside work but I don't. They are just colleagues and I go to work, do my thing and go home. No one has my phone number or anything to get in touch with me. Most of these girls like to spread gossip etc. It's not my thing. I couldn't care less.
I've been working with mostly guys over the last few months which was a good change but over the last 2 weeks it's gone back to all girls and the touching has started again. Really weird. I feel like setting them straight but it'll probably make everything awkward at work after that.
That is completely inappropriate and unprofessional behavior.
My mom has been in an IT industry for 18+ years with mostly all men in her department at her previous job; She also did the heavy lifting of hardware and
whatnot. I have never seen her fret over any of these issues even at the beginning. She is always been awesome at her job Mash'Allah!!
It's a job just like any other. If you do it well no one is going to treat you any different; concentrate on doing well and give your ALL;
and thats pretty much all that you can do instead of worrying.