Although I cannot help but laugh about it, I am kind of in a tight spot right now. I work as a substitute kindergarten teacher. Some may call it a highly feminine job, but I love my job, and considering how heavily female-dominated it usually is, I feel like I'm doing gods work for these kids.

However, three days ago, I was sent to a new spot by my employer. This place has about twenty employees, none of whom are men. The children are wonderful, but the women are ... Well, pretty much what you would expect. In their forties to fifties, short hair, calls their husbands "hubby", discussions at lunch break range from cake to television to cheap humor. In addition, they are all feminists, self-centered and highly bitter.

Shortly after I started my first day, I began to notice how all of them seemed to ignore me entirely. This isn't that uncommon for some of the more depressing kindergartens, but I just found it strange how they seemed almost intimidated by me right off the get-go. Days pass, the kids and I have already become best friends and I'm doing my job well (I am the only one who is actually playing with the children, left alone regarding them as human beings). But as time passes, I begin to feel more and more isolated. Every time I am addressed it is highly dismissive in nature and quite often extremely condescending in tonality. Already on my second day I don't even get a "good morning" when I arrive.

So at this point, I am loving the time I am spending which the kids (I take them on geological expeditions, teaching them soccer, origami, listening to all of their needs, everything an employee should be doing), but I am already starting to dread the idea of going to work. I couldn't care less about their opinion of me, but it is a constant gauntlet of negativity. So, I call my employer (substitute firm), tell them about my situation and ask what I should do. They immediately set up a meeting with the boss there and thank me for bringing it to their attention. This meeting is tomorrow morning.

Now, perhaps the most important part is while I was about to leave work today, I casually ask one of them how I've been doing. With what can only be interpreted as resent, she tells me "you are taking up a whole lot of space" and that "you are making quite a fuzz out of yourself" ("you are making a lot out of yourself" would be the direct translation). I hold frame and tell her to elaborate. She said that I was "talking over her" while we were having a morning gathering with the kids, and that she preferred not to be "walked all over". In reality, I was merely participating and communicating with the kids in good synergy with her. Doing this is absolutely standard, and has never been an issue anywhere else. I almost want to facepalm for having to actually point that out.

She brings up how I told a boy that either he could stop being loud and disruptive at lunch, or he could leave the table. "Well, have you ever seen one of us do that"? I told her yes, I have. She changes the subject.

She brought up a whole lot of other shit, none of which was professional, instead all personal. The brief conversation drowned in passive aggressiveness and underlying contempt, but regardless I thank her for communicating with me and that we should keep up this dialogue as colleagues. This left her somewhat speechless.

It should go without saying that the things she told me are all from the hivemind of the work enviroment there, and this is how they all feel about me. They seem to be a very tight-knitted community of fellow strong womyn.

Now, I need to figure out what to say in tomorrow's meeting. I am having a pretty difficult time interpreting the essence of this, because they seem extremely threatened by me. During my visits, I have been very helpful and open, taken great initiative, and been generally very polite and kind. Of course, while I have been professional, I have also been quite RP, as I always am.

TL;DR: Working as substitute teacher in 100% female-dominated work force, doing a fine ass job, they immediately begin to isolate me and behave strangely. Meeting with the boss tomorrow regarding situation, would like to get out with my work contract intact.

PS: Watch the out where you drop off your kids in the morning. The more male employees one has, the better it will be for your child. There are no exceptions to this rule. 80% of female kindergarten teachers are fucked up in some way or another and can leave nasty psychological bruises on your kid. Please evaluate a large portion of kindergartens in your area before settling on one.