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I agree with the general narrative of the author's article that there is discrimination and it's slowly weeding away.
The problem is that discrimination in the workplace is not a male/female dichotomy. People from different racial and age groups have been discriminated against and may well be continuing today.
It is also too "broad to brush" that women have an "...ability to do something because they have the skills..." while men have "....I can do it without the experience or skills..." Confidence and boldness occurs in all kinds of groups.
I must admit that from my experience that the discrimination against me and people of non-Anglo Saxon backgrounds is not a stereotypical type casting Anglo Saxons. But the discrimination that I witnessed was by Anglo-Saxons in higher positions a few decades ago. It was a time when the credits rolled in a TV show or film that one hardly or never saw names of non-Anglo Saxons.
It was an era where if you were broadcaster of non-Anglo Saxon heritage you had to Anglicise your name. Though there was the presence of some broadcasters with names like Sam Kronje, Hans Torv, Arch Tambakis and Holger Brockmann to name a very few.
When the author said that "...every promotion or additional skill came from a man seeing the potential in me, not me (her) seeing it in myself (herself)....." should be for every superior whether man or woman regardless of whether the subordinate's or the superior's gender, race, age-group or personal preference/orientation.
I don't like to bag the employer, the employer is fine. It's that there were some rotten supervisors in key positions. When I was working for a particular broadcaster, some superiors would be wasting their time talking about 'foreigners' or whether someone was straight or gay.
When it came to assisting or supervising subordinates, there was hardly any supervision or the "showing of the ropes" to a person of non-Anglo Saxon.
I include myself where I was not shown the ropes, kept ignorant then accused of not being competent for the particular task.
In addition, workers of non-Anglo Saxon origin including Greeks, Italians, Maltese and Asians received the higher proportion of criticism EVEN where the criticisers had a remote working relationship.
It has also occurred where an injustice occurred on a person of non-Anglo Saxon heritage, that person reports the injustice to her/his superior only to receive a chastisement from a person above.
It also happened in situations where a non-Anglo Saxon made a small mistake or no mistake and receive a higher proportion of criticism
It also occurred when a non-Anglo Saxon applied for a promotion, the applicants would be a higher proportion of people objecting to the application or the appointment.
So one cannot assume that discrimination in the workplace is of a woman/man dichotomy.
I hope that today's management does not favour women over men or men over women and/or favour a particular trait over another particular trait.
My observations and experience were real and did occur. It is something that is not to be gleaned over by people who have never experienced or observed discrimination.
Thank you,
Anthony of a very upbeat Belfield