To hope a new generation would know better by now.

[MrsMagnum]

I've been working in a male dominated environment for over 20 years. I have run the company for over 15 years and owned it for over 10.

I had sadly become accustomed to the old boys (quite literally) attitudes towards women in an almost exclusively male profession. Had to politely laugh off/ignore the sexist crap with customers early on. (I have actually been told women belong in the kitchen and he meant it).

As I gained my confidence and ownership I was able to avoid engaging with such people directly, if I couldn't professionally avoid them entirely. However, there were still the
occasional aggressive bullying and threatening calls to endure from men on the phone if I refused to put them through to whichever male they demanded to talk to, as they assumed I was merely the secretary. Got to admit they were fun to slap down at times but still disgusting occurrences often from younger sounding men too.

In more recent years, as the older generation passed on, I was heartened to see more women at industry events. It was such a relief to finally have a female at the helm of a leading industry association. Gone were the disgracefully unfunny and unapologetically misogynistic after dinner speakers who had been dragged back from their 70s/80s heyday. It was truly a breath of fresh air.

How sad that this morning I was reminded of it all, after hoping such blatant attitudes were a thing of the past. A young man has just attempted to deliver parcels to my company that are addressed to another company but at my address. I clearly explained the situation to him, which he acknowledged but wasn't happy with. To be helpful I was trying to google the company name to try to locate the correct address when one of my male employees entered.and the delivery driver turned and says 'ah the boss I've got your parcel for you here'.

The only positive I can take is that when I exclaimed loudly that I was actually the boss and he was my employee he seemed to react in an embarrassed way. Before he left I made sure to remind him that such assumptions are ridiculous in this day and age and that (even in this setting) woman can actually be bosses and know what they are talking about!

It must be exhausting, demoralising and infuriating for women who have to deal with this regularly.

[Thelnebriati]

Change happens slowly, because its men that need to change now, and we can't make them.
If they choose not to it can only be because they feel threatened by equality. They don't want to acknowledge this, so pretend that feminism is a reversal of the current hierarchy.