I was reading an article on female bullies in the workplace last night in one of the magazines I receive but rarely have time to read much less peruse and I was struck by how lucky I am in my workplace.  We have a really strong network of female management and employees that support eachother - truly.  Just yesterday I was copied on emails about planning birthday celebrations for several women in the building.  When one of us is pending an opportunity to be promoted, we band together and help her with her resume, run her through potential interview questions, loan her reading materials, listen to anxieties.  We buy eachother's kids fundraising items even though we don't really need ANOTHER candy bar...well maybe we do.

I mean it's not Nirvana, we have some who refuse to step in to the fold, but the group would be there with open arms.  My group in particular has a large female to male ratio and we have been subject to some strange workplace tension lately that we can't find the source, but rather than having it turn us on eachother we have banded together.

I am struck by this as it is new to me, I was strangely uncomfortable in the comraderie of womanhood until not too long ago and I think this is pretty darn cool. As a coworker and I shared some stresses yesterday at the end of the day and were able to release them, I was grateful I let myself have the experience.

Never thought I'd think of myself as a feminist, but maybe I am.