Being a Shefeild Student
About Charis Lenton
Charis is a smart, funny, and kind person. She is a student of Sheffield, a supporting sister, a friend to many as well as someone I look up to. Her passion and dedication to everything she does has inspired me to interview her.
Could you tell me about your family and childhood? How has this impacted your identity?
“Yes, my dad is a pastor so I grew up around a lot of people from different ethnicities and backgrounds really helped me to communicate with a vast array of different people. So, that's why I think that's impacted my decision to go on to be a nurse because I think I'm quite good at communicating with lots of different people. My mum herself is a nurse so I obviously heard a lot of stories about what she's been through and that's inspired me to take up wanting to be a nurse and my auntie is also a nurse, it must run in the family! So, that's a bit about my family.”
You chose the career path of a nurse apart from your mom and Auntie. Are there any other reasons you wanted to be a nurse?
“ I think I've always wanted to go into something medical because the science aspect always really interested me and learning all about how the body and now that I am working in the hospitals, it's really interesting to me because each little procedure is like a little science experiment. As well as that I think I've always had a real interest in people and it find amazing what some people go through and the resilience they have towards their problems and I just think it's interesting to hear different stories and then you can be invested in people's lives and what they are going through, and really care about them. So, that's why I wanted to be a nurse.”
How has being a woman affected your identity?
“For me, I have found that a lot of people can be dismissive and think less of you because you're a woman. I've been labeled things like ‘your bimbo’ and ‘your a bit ditzy’ which they would never label men as that. That's made me face challenges but in the long run, it helped me stand up for myself, when I was younger and someone said something that a disagreed with I would have nodded along but now, the other day one of the male nurses said to me “ I prefer working with men, and caring for male patients because they are less hassle and less annoying about things.” I was able to challenge him on that which I would have never done before. Being a woman has enabled me to stand up for myself more because I've had to.”
“Keep at it, be resilient! You might get beaten down and people might say things to you but keep at it!”
-Charis Lenton
What challenges do you think you faced that I won't as a woman?
“I hope you won’t face these challenges, a lot of it for me is that people make assumptions about me. Making assumptions that I'm not as smart as I am because I do think I'm quite smart! Just generally, there is so much more abuse that goes on with women and attacks on women, and I really hope that gets eradicated over time. Just the misconceptions, and how some males can be so dismissive over women. The housewife role is still very prevalent and I hope that as time goes on you will see more stay-at-home dads instead.”
Don't be scared to stand up for yourself!
-Charis Lenton
