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There are plenty of like-minded individuals within the IET Women's Network that may be able to help you with a query so, feel free to add to this thread.
I agree with Victoria, in non-English speaking countries it is very likely to be confusion caused by culture differences etc. (I have been addressed as 'Munday' before and that dosent sound like an English first name!) and a friendly and understanding explanation is probably all that is needed.
However in the UK and some other countries I think that although gender bias proably is a factor in some cases an even bigger factor will be laziness. People do not seem to consider that the same care should be taken with emails as we usually take with snail mail. The number of mis-spelt and ungramatical emails that I recieve from my collegues for whom English is their first language highlights this!!!
Personally I don't advise taking this sort of thing to much to heart and would just correct it in a polite and not-too-serious manner. After all it is a little confusing - I personally find it difficult when you have an email that comes in 'Vincent, Lewis' (for example) to remember that 'Lewis' is the guys first name! I would always stop and think about it and check my email carefully, but as I have said I don't think many people treat emails with the care they should.
I agree with Victoria, in non-English speaking countries it is very likely to be confusion caused by culture differences etc. (I have been addressed as 'Munday' before and that dosent sound like an English first name!) and a friendly and understanding explanation is probably all that is needed.
However in the UK and some other countries I think that although gender bias proably is a factor in some cases an even bigger factor will be laziness. People do not seem to consider that the same care should be taken with emails as we usually take with snail mail. The number of mis-spelt and ungramatical emails that I recieve from my collegues for whom English is their first language highlights this!!!
Personally I don't advise taking this sort of thing to much to heart and would just correct it in a polite and not-too-serious manner. After all it is a little confusing - I personally find it difficult when you have an email that comes in 'Vincent, Lewis' (for example) to remember that 'Lewis' is the guys first name! I would always stop and think about it and check my email carefully, but as I have said I don't think many people treat emails with the care they should.
