Welcome to the 21st Century...

Let me bring you up to speed.
Women hold one half of all management, professional, and related occupations (according to the 2004 US Dept of Labor Datebook)
Women out number men 4 to 1 in the US (according to GeoHive.com)
Despite my lack of the Y chromosome, I am, in fact, capable of performing my job and managing men.

Why the brief review of the gender world as we know it? I had, honestly, the most bizarre experience of my work life today. Apparently one of the new employees assigned to my client required that he; 1. Not be managed, mentored, or coached by a woman. 2. Not be 'forced' to sit next to a woman. 3. Not be required to meet with a woman in a closed office.

Um.. Huh? Sorry, did you forget exactly what year this is? Or did you just forget to read a bit about our "globally diverse workforce"? After it was explained that these demands would not be met, our new employee proceeded to complain how the company mislead and misrepresented our work environment.

Let me recap...
Won't work with woman (this was the most outrageous of several demands), is complaining that we mislead him. Hmmm Interesting... Exactly what reality are you living in? Lucky for me (and probably way better for him), he quit.

I haven't experienced something as strange and odd as gender discrimination before. At least not this blatantly. I am in no way the best person at my job - but I'm darn capable, and I've worked my ever expanding tush off to get where I am. At 5 years old, I was proclaiming woman's ability and right to drive trackers (and made sure my cousin and uncle knew it - and have never forgotten it!). Maybe it comes from being the only girl (and youngest) in my extended family. Maybe it's genetic from my Mom, who always showed me that women are strong, resourceful, intelligent, and capable people. (Thanks Mom!) Or maybe it's my Dad, who always followed my achievements with a hardy "I'm proud of you" hug, and never lowered expectations because I was the girl. (Thanks DDD) Wherever I got this feminist streak, it is well ingrained within my person. Which would have made working with Mr 1950 difficult, and managing him near impossible.

Who knows why this particular person desired to be in a female free work environment. But as we look at our changing workforce, our changing economic climate, us women are going to be a pretty big force to be reckoned with. So look out world - us woman are here to stay, oh and we'll probably be your next manager too.