One big shock for me upon moving to Nashville was how quickly demographics changed. One minute an area would be mostly Caucasian and within a month that same area would be mostly Hispanic or Somalian. This was refreshing because Nashville is really turning into a very diverse place with such a unique personality.
With these changes though, come their own set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges that I faced was getting any kind of respect from males from different cultures. Because in their native lands women's roles are quite different, it is very difficult to relate to men from a culture that does not see their role as different. The boys are taught to disregard instructions and reprimand which makes classroom management a difficult task at times too. Often male bus drivers have to reinforce what is communicated when there are males from particular backgrounds around, or what we say is disregarded or ignored.
It is infuriating to me as a woman and as a professional to have what I say totally looked over by someone else just because of my gender. I think it absurd that you would not listen to someone who is charged with the care of your child while you are away for hours at a time and you refuse to acknowledge that I have any intelligence or really humanity?! The children we teach are getting the message however. In a female dominated field, the boys have not choice but to listen to women, obey women, and respect women, they are all around. Although I understand the ideology behind the behavior; I will rejoice whe this kind of direspect ends. It makes me want to make a muscle and shout to the heavens, "Who runs the world....GIRLS!"
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