You have probably heard the riddle about a father and his young son who are in a car accident. The father dies at the scene and the boy is rushed to hospital, where the surgeon says, “I can’t operate on this boy. He’s my son.” Many people still pause before the answer: the surgeon is the boy’s mother.

It is a neat illustration of unconscious bias. Even those of us who would reject overt sexism can carry automatic assumptions about which gender belongs in which profession. Being taken seriously as a woman in a male-dominated role means confronting those assumptions regularly. Most of the time they are harmless, but in business they can shape who gets heard, who gets the contract and who is treated as the expert in the room.

For women in male-dominated industries, that bias is not just a riddle. Engineering, technology, construction and the skilled trades remain heavily male environments. According to EngineeringUK’s State of Engineering 2024 report, women made up 16.5% of the engineering workforce, up from 10.5% in 2010 but still far from parity. ONS Labour Force Survey data from 2024 shows women account for roughly one in four workers in the UK tech sector, and around one in ten in skilled trades such as plumbing, electrics and building. These numbers matter because under-representation can make capability invisible: some people see the gender before they see the qualification.

The experience is familiar to many businesswomen. Walk into a networking event, a client meeting or a site visit as the only woman in the room and you may find the conversation directed to a male colleague, even when you are the one leading the project. It is rarely malicious; often it is an automatic reflex. But it is exhausting, and it can undermine your authority before you have opened your mouth.

I work in digital marketing and technology, a field where the default image is still of the “IT guy”, not the “IT person”. Inside a supportive office, gender can fade into the background. Step outside to pitch or troubleshoot for a client, however, and the old assumptions resurface. A question I answered gets repeated to a male colleague. A technical recommendation is checked with “one of the guys”. These moments are subtle, but they add up.

Thankfully, the landscape has shifted since this conversation first appeared on Prowess. The idea that a woman in business is running “a bit of a hobby” has largely been retired. Women now start and scale companies across every sector, from fintech and clean energy to manufacturing and cybersecurity. The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship 2023 progress report found that the economic contribution of women-led businesses is growing, and estimates that closing the enterprise gap between men and women could add up to £250 billion to the UK economy. Initiatives to improve access to finance, mentoring and networks are gaining traction. Serious businesspeople increasingly understand that competence is not gendered.

Progress at the top is also visible, though uneven. Women hold around 42% of board seats in FTSE 100 companies and roughly 39% in the FTSE 350, according to the FTSE Women Leaders Review 2024. The 2024 general election returned a record 242 women MPs, or 37.2% of the House of Commons, according to House of Commons Library figures. These gains do not erase everyday bias, but they do change the reference points. When girls and young women see women leading engineering firms, coding teams and construction projects, the riddle stops being a riddle.

It is also worth remembering that stereotypes cut both ways. Read the opening riddle again, but replace “doctor” with “nurse”. Many people would still struggle to answer, yet nursing is a unisex profession. We associate doctors with authority and executive decision-making, and nurses with care and nurture. That framing does a disservice to both. Perhaps the real question is not “why don’t we expect women in technical roles?” but “why do we load certain jobs with gendered meaning at all?”

Taken seriously as a woman in a male-dominated role

So how do you get taken seriously when the room has already made assumptions? There is no single answer, but a few approaches help.

Lead with evidence

Credentials, case studies and clear results are harder to dismiss than charm. If you are the expert, own it. State your role, your experience and the outcome you have delivered without apologising or downplaying.

Reframe interruptions

When a client directs a technical question to a male colleague, a calm “I’m the best person to answer that” brings the conversation back without escalating tension.

Build visible proof

Speak at events, publish articles, contribute to industry standards and mentor others. The more your expertise is seen in public, the less room there is for surprise.

Find allies

Male colleagues who redirect questions back to you, who credit your ideas and who challenge all-male panels make a measurable difference. Allyship is not charity; it is good business.

Choose your battles

Not every microaggression needs a confrontation. Save your energy for the moments that affect your reputation, your team or your revenue, and document patterns if they become a problem.

The wider picture for women in UK business

These personal tactics sit inside a broader shift. The Women in Business: Key UK Facts page shows that women run a growing share of UK enterprises, though access to growth capital and senior leadership remains uneven. Sectors such as technology continue to attract attention, with resources like the Women in Tech Jobs UK 2026 guide tracking pay gaps, progression and pathways. Meanwhile, the Rose Review Female Entrepreneurship: Progress or Promises? article examines whether government and finance commitments are translating into real change for women founders.

Action steps to build your authority

• Audit your public profile. Make sure your LinkedIn, website bio and speaker biography state your expertise and results clearly.
• Prepare one sentence you can use to redirect questions back to you when a client or colleague bypasses you.
• Identify one ally in your workplace or industry who will amplify your contributions.
• Track patterns. If bias affects a contract, promotion or project, keep a factual record.
• Connect with a women in business network to share tactics and find mentors.

On the whole, I try not to get bogged down in the “woman in a man’s world” narrative. Some stereotypes are stubborn, and progress is slower than anyone would like. But the direction of travel is clear. More women are entering technical and manual professions, more investors are backing women founders, and more clients are learning that capability comes first.

We are not there yet. There will still be the odd blank stare when you explain something technical, or the assumption that you must be the administrator rather than the engineer. When that happens, the best response is to keep doing excellent work. Being taken seriously as a woman in a male-dominated role still takes patience, but performance is the argument that wins. The sooner we judge businesses by what they deliver rather than who delivers it, the sooner we stop being businesswomen or businessmen and simply become businesspeople.