What was a time you put someone in their place at work for doubting your technical ability based on your sex?

17 comments

1. Female maintenance engineer here.
   Yes 1000 times yes. Always ends in surprise on their part and it’s a double whammy because I’m very young to be qualified doing what I do for so many years.

2. Some dude once tried to explain how RSS feeds work to me. I responded by explaining to him that I know about RSS feeds because I have been blogging and podcasting since I was 11 years old, which was probably before he himself was even aware of the existence of podcasts.

3. It was my tattoo. The patients thought I was the best nurse until I started tatting. We had to have a discussion

4. I’m an automotive painter by trade. I currently work in a factory as a painter, one day we had a huge job come through that needed to be repainted and every male in the paint line was doubting my skills and ability to re spray this big canopy type truck body. I said bet, and successfully sprayed it. The pride I felt as I watched their gawking faces as they inspected and looked over my paint job satisfied me so much.

5. F/30 STEM pro in AI who is occasionally sent out as a consultant. I arrived at the client’s office the usual 10 minutes early for my appointment with the IT VP… and waited 45 minutes after my appointment time. When he graced me with his presence, it was to hear a 10-minute diatribe about “women in tech.” and how we don’t understand the logic behind the programing. Granted, all I had going for me were my MCS, MCE, PhD., published papers directly bearing on his problem, and 5+ years of experience. So, I thanked him for his time and left… fuming. I called my Boss and he said I’d have a plane ticket home by the time I got to the airport. Then he called the client. I met the new IT VP 6 weeks later.

6. I was a manager at RadioShack – learned every single part there was there and what each one did. Every time a guy came in they would go to my coworker who was a guy (had maybe a month or 2 of experience and was 19) he would always say something along the lines of “ I don’t know but she’s my manager and she knows where everything is” then the guy reluctantly would shuffle over to me and show me what he needed and say “do you know what this is?” (No doubt thinking I didn’t) Not only did I know the part name I would recommend the correct size and our most affordable brand of it. Every time they would act so shocked that I knew what I was talking about. It’s amazing to me how many times it happened- basically every guy aged 40 and up.

7. I am not sure if it’s purely because of the sex or is it my general physical appearance, but that happens all the time. Non stop. It’s funny though, after they hear me talk most are left somewhat confused, in a sense that it seems like they can’t fully comprehend my words. Love it.

8. Cars have always been a special interest of mine and I’ve worked in dealerships, collision centers, and in direct repairs. I know what I’m talking about. Men would CONSTANTLY argue with me about the dumbest things because I just couldn’t possibly know the answer. Thankfully 90% of the guys I worked with saw me as an equal and knew I could hold my own. The other 10% had to receive a dressing down and be told that there’s no E in Camaro or that ford doesn’t make the suburban.

9. Being asked which one on the team was my boyfriend, because there’s no way a woman can work in sports if she didn’t get the job by sleeping with someone. “What, I was supposed to pick just one?” I think they realized how ridiculous they sounded asking me that in front of my peers and other fans, they apologized and would never look me in the eye again.

10. When men in Corporate America try to come up with some crazy idea as to why something occurs.

    Like acting as if women don’t have a brain in their head, especially if they’re good-looking and blonde.

    I tell them: “Yeah, I don’t think that’s actually true if you subscribe to the theory of Occam’s Razor”.

    They get a look on their face which shows they have no idea what you’re talking about and now they look like the fools.

11. We were working for this massive company. They’re known for getting really annoyed if people talk over the radio unnecessarily. We’d closed a road. They said to open all the roads but ours. This guy told me to “move the car, little girl, so we can open the road”. He was never seen on site again.

12. They often think you can’t lift things, to me letting them needlessly do the heavy stuff alone is putting them in their place

13. There’s never been an aspect of putting them in their place. It’s more like I’d show my competence and then they’d just kind of not care and brush it off. But the two people that doubted my ability based on my sex didn’t last very long in that job which was nice.

14. I was a massage therapist for many years. I’m very short and I’m very strong. Was, anyway. I would introduce myself to male clients and they’d take one look at me and make sure to let me know they wanted deep tissue. I’d say sure. No worries. I got you. I guess they assumed that 1: Im female and men are stronger and 2: I’m short so I’m weak. I cannot tell you how many times these clients would be the first to ask for me to lighten up on pressure because it was too much.

15. At an interview for a fast food place. I was working remotely at my main job during Covid and had a lot more free time so I though I could get another job on the side. When the person interviewing me found out that I work full time at another place he straight up told me that women cannot handle doing two jobs at the same time. This was at Taco Bell.

16. Procurement lead with an architecture background. It’s astonishing how many times I have to tell our mechanical design team, all with engineering degrees, that you can’t put a 7/16 nut on a 5/16 bolt. You don’t need a degree to put those two together.

17. I don’t have a personal story but this makes me think of Marisa Tomei’s character in My Cousin Vinny. When she gets on the stand as a super knowledgeable mechanic.