h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's amazing how many male members of our school teacher staff don't realise that they discriminate or are harrassing female members of staff.
Most of the time I just shrug it off. But I got angry the other day when two male members of staff suggested that the female members of staff should do a better job at keeping the fridge and sink area clean. NOT IN MY JOB DESCRIPTION. I don't even use these facilities.
My immediate boss asked if we thought he was sexist and we had to say yes, he refused to believe it even when we pointed out things like-
1. Just because you have annoyed us with your incompetence doesn't me we are premenstral.
2. Filing can be done by men
3. Get your own coffee unless at some stage you are going to make one for us
4. We do get sick and still come to work, we don't whinge for sympathy, but we still need care.
We went on but he still didn't believe that he treated us any different to the BLOKES.

You must have a difficult time of it at work if that's the prevailing attitude. And what's even more worrying is that these guys are 'nurturing' young people!

I've just had a conversation with a co-worker who's been having a difficult time with another, more senior, member of staff. He is prone to having tantums if things don't go smoothly and doesn't make allowances for trainees. We talked about the similarity of his behaviour and that of an average two year old. She's going back in tomorrow with a different mind-set - she's the one in charge and he's got to be 'managed'. It should make for an easier life but why should it be necessary for her to develop a coping strategy for his personality problems.

I do realise that 'behaviour problems' are not limited to those with Y chromosomes! I've worked with some difficult women in my time.

I think there are various forms of harrassment to be considered:
SILENT HARRASSMENT: This could be applied to one of my bosses who never says anything but does leer at the receptionists if they are wearing something tight fitting or if they have to bend down for any reason.
LOUD-MOUTH HARRASSMENT: This goes for the above mentioned boss too, he takes great delight in shouting about his "private parts" when he gets angry which we (mostly women) tend to ignore but if there's a new girl in the office they usually freak out which I think is what the whole performance is about, making females cower.
BEHIND-THE-BACK HARRASSMENT: This applies to another boss, he never says anything directly but always to a third party who usually reports the conversation back to the person concerned. What he says is always derogatory, by the way.
I think the best action to take on all occasions is to ignore the situation and maybe the person doing the harrassing will finally give up if he/she sees that there is no reponse from the person on the receiving end.