As a male, I have seen the need for improvement many times. Once, I had a temporary job (1050 hour intern)in Washington DC, in the early days of EPA. I was sent to the office of the asst. Administrator, where I worked in the area that dealt with HIS mail, and with articles that he needed to approve for inclusion in the Federal Register. I ran errands and sorted & filed...until they decided I could actually proofread...then I read some of those documents.
So? Well, the office was all women...and they deferred to me!
"Bill...do you think you might have time to check these over?"
"Bill, if you get a minute, could you file these items?"
It was not just politeness...they acted as if it was up to me to accept the tasks.
I was a temporary, low-life INTERN! I was a GS-5! The woman who ran the office was a GS-12! But...I was male, and all day they dealt with men who gave orders. We got along fine, but I felt vaguely awkward for 4 months.


I'm sure it's probably better now, but I hope the new Council is able to approach ALL aspects of the issue - including the mindset of women who never learned that there another way.