Can gender be prejudiced against itself?

Most times when we talk about sexism towards woman we often think the problem comes from the opposite sex. But from my personal experience, gender can be prejudiced against itself. One may ask how and why? Are they not of the same Gender/Sex? but there are various explanations for this behaviour. One possible explanation Is that the one instigating the prejudice might be projecting her incapabilities on the same sex, this might be as a result of buying the idea that being a woman meant middling abilities.

On gaining admission into the university in 2016, I found myself in an environment rife with gender prejudice, in which women were underrepresented. A year later, I won a ticket to participate in one of the largest tech conferences ever, in Portugal. However, for verification purposes and as a requirement for visa processing, I needed to obtain a letter of introduction from my institution and sought to make the request of my department, little did I know that in the process I would meet my greatest surprise yet and learn a most shocking lesson about my immediate community. “Why should a female student be allowed to travel for a tech event? I think a male student would represent us better” were the words of a female lecturer when she learned of the details of my request to the department. I realised at that instant how deeply gender prejudice had eaten into the society’s fabric so that gender could be and was prejudiced against itself. The false idea that being female automatically meant middling abilities, ineffectuality, or always the auxiliary had been sold and bought m any times to the extent that women have accepted it as a fact and lived thei r lives, formed their thoughts and utterances based on it and circumscribed their aspirations as a result too.

Moreover, I have found out that gender prejudice and the underrepresentation of women in tech are causally related — a consequence of the misconception that a career in tech was the height of ambitiousness, and as such will take a crusade to affect the paradigm shift necessary to attracting more women to the tech industry and ensuring adequate representation.

What are some of your experiences relating to this topic and what solutions can you offer to solve gender discrimination?