[MartinCron]

Can you provide an example of the barriers of which you speak?

Here's a real-world example: A workplace where most of the (all-male) development team is using the same "bikini babe" screensaver. It's a small thing to a guy, something you may not even notice. It's a small thing to plenty of women, too. Some other women may see that as an implicit message that they aren't taken seriously as anything but a sex object.

Sure, it's a small thing, but small things add up.

I don't want to say that you are the problem or that you should hire unqualified people to correct an imbalance. All I want is for people to be honest with themselves that this world isn't a pure meritocracy and that you may be (as I am) the beneficiary of privilege based on sex or race or class. Is that really controversial?

[monochromatic]

Women getting their panties in a bunch about something as minor as that is the reason they aren't taken seriously in the workplace (to the extent they aren't, I mean).

[roguecoder]

Thank you monochromatic for provide an example for iuguy.

What he described is illegal in the US, by the way, and can get both you and your employer sued. It's not minor: it's part of culture bonding based on women-as-sex-objects rather than as possible equal participants.

[MartinCron]

So you're saying that women aren't taken seriously because they feel like they aren't taken seriously? Did you even read the part of the article about circular logic?

I am embarrassed for you.

[monochromatic]

How is it circular to say women don't get taken seriously when they make a big deal about things that seem minor to guys?

[MartinCron]

Of course it seems minor to you, that doesn't mean that it's not a real thing. You have to be mature enough to realize that your perspective isn't the only valid one.

Turn it around for a moment. Imagine you work in a mostly female industry. There's something that you, as a man, care about, that your women co-workers don't (I don't know, scheduling you to be on-call during the World Cup finals). What do you do?

Option 1: Say nothing, suffer in silence, and feel like they don't know or care.

Option 2: Say something to try to improve the situation, and have people accuse you of getting your boxers in a bunch over something minor.