I've been dealing with some issues at work because I believe I'm being held to a double standard as a woman. I pointed out this out to my (female) boss and I told her I've never experienced an environment like this at any other workplace. I've been working for 16 years, and I've been in this industry for 9 of those years.

She was absolutely amazed. She said she'd faced things like this her entire career and feels that my experience (of little sexism) is an anomaly. Which I found incredibly depressing.

Some examples:
- Men are blatantly paid attention to more, even if they have less experience
- Men can yell and be rude in meetings with no repercussions. Women on the other hand, are held to much higher standards of communication both in meetings and in email. I personally was delayed a promotion because of one slightly argumentative comment I made in a meeting. I was told I need to work on my communication skills to be "appropriate to my level" and I will likely be promoted mid-year. Meanwhile, a male colleague on the same team who regularly is rude and contentious and yells, received a promotion to an even higher level.
- Two women had a debate on a work topic at a work lunch and a male colleague (and part of management) went to one of the women later and said, "hey I heard you and (other employee) were in a cat fight at lunch."
- We recently hired a female director in my department and my team was hesitant to hire a woman because we were afraid the male managers wouldn't respect her the same way they would a man.

These are only a handful of examples. Does this seem normal to you? Do you experience these same feelings day to day? FYI, I have a meeting with HR to discuss this.