At our workplace we clean our offices ourselves, and I don't have a problem with that. My boss asked me to clean the very dusty server room because I'm the only girl in the IT department. I feel somewhat discriminated as a woman in tech. Would it be wrong for me to refuse.

nope, men can clean too so if it's a regular thing you r in ur rights to insist some rotation ;]

The only valid reason for not rotating would be if you are the only one with access/permission to go in there.

Otherwise it should be a shared responsibility.

You need to think and analyze this:

1. Consider the friends group and how they agree to this demand and if they can help.

2. Ask someone senior who can help if possible

3. Try to observe the culture around and see if the aligns with that or not. If not, consult and report.

4. If this action leads to betterment in some sort for you or for company, do not hesitate to do but remember do not hurt yourself and make this contribution to COUNT for the value it adds. In case u can't do it, report it directly and timely so that it does not come to you.

you have every right to refuse, you're being taken out of your position to do that. that's a type of harassment

@UnicornPoo we do have a cleaner but they are not allowed into the server room.

You can always refuse.

But i am confused, what does being a girl have to do with cleaning the server room? o.O

@dakkarant I honestly don't know what being a girl has to do with me cleaning the server room when we all use it as a department.

@dakkarant nothing except a bad or ignorant boss.

@Nanos and like regular cleaners : these cables r in my way...what is this rack doin' here...oops I kicked the bucket and everything became new year and champagne...

@Nanos yes her exact words were "... the server room shouldn't be dusty when there's a girl (me) in the department... " evn her tone was implying that it is "my duty" to make sure that IT related stuff is clean.

@Nanos she's the General manger and not in our department.

@Meldy she is still a woman though... send her to the server room...politely ofc. ;}

@Nanos if you put it that way, it might work in my advantage thanks

@Nanos do I know that from personal exp. I don't clean my PCs until the fans got astma... still they rock... only HDDs have died in my hands =]

@Meldy she sounds like an asshole. in my experience, women in positions of power can be just as sexist and toxic towards other women, if not more than men, they'll put the food chain before sorority

Do people get upset when a manager asks them to do something?

It kind of sounds like she is judgemental of men being messy. But a man would say, "Yes, we are messy. So what?"

@We3D "she's still a woman though"
WTF?!??? There is no way, at all, that anyone should ever be expected to do the cleaning because they are female. Get a grip.
Also, I notice that the manager referred to her as a "girl". That's one toxic workplace.

@spongegeoff it sure sound like one, about that comment, I was just joking. see my 1st comment for reference on my position on the topic =}

@We3D I like your first comment a whole lot more

@Demolishun you're missing the point, which is devs are not responsible for cleaning. she should hire someone else for that

I would just do it the first time and refuse the second.

Anyway, are the servers clean by now?

@retoor haven't cleaned them yet, it's been a really busy week.

@UnicornPoo hehe, I worked for a company that had financially hard times and we were joking that we had to clean ourselves soon. That joke didn't last long. Before I knew it I also was cleaning 50 (fucking) dishes with an industrial dish washer.

@Meldy yeah cause you already have another job lol

"because I'm the only girl in the IT department"

did he specifically say this, or it is just your own assumption?

It could be because he trusted you, he thought that you are the most neat and careful worker he has. Because you know, it's the freaking server room. Can't have some careless dude trip up the cables.