I know the second this category comes up, every single time, at least one person is going to tell me that we’ve defeated sexism in the workplace, and that women are just too sensitive these days. These persons can kindly fuck off, though: while we’ve eliminated many of the overt types of sexual harassment that used to take place, that isn’t a victory; there’s still an entire truckload of considerations any woman has to take on her way into a male-dominated career like most engineering fields, sciences, and industries.

I’ll start with the advances, lest anyone complain that I’m ignoring all the ways things have improved. It’s no longer either legal or acceptable to expect women in the workplace to “sleep” their way to the top. Likewise, blatant kinds of sexual harassment – from inappropriate comments up to and including blackmailing – are now frowned on. From what I understand, these are great things to be recognized, and yet — what a low bar.

No, I didn’t have to worry for my career because a coworker or boss wanted to sleep with me and was gonna force or coerce me into doing so or giving up my career. Wow. Is that the best we can do?

I’ve been privy to thousands of workplace “microaggressions” — the term we use now to describe the subtle sexism that has taken over workplaces now that the “obvious” sexism has been dealt with. I’ve had project leaders refuse to work with me; had my work doubted and questioned where men with less experience were treated as acceptable contributors; I’ve had to fight my way to respect with an all-male all-union team; I’ve had to fight my way to respect with executive committees where male managers in equal positions didn’t have to: and that’s just me; countless other female employees have had an equally colorful set of experiences.

This section will focus on these more nebulous actions of misogynist harassment (“sexual harassment” becomes a less applicable term when actual threats &B harassing comments re: sex get removed from the equation), how men can do better, and what women need to consider and gird themselves up in battle armor for when entering typically male-dominated career fields.