I am having to challenge and push back on the external digital agency regarding their work. I found some of their work to be mediocre, at best, and not up to my standards. I also found some of their work to be missing some key elements. I brought this to my boss's attention, and she says it is fine for me to send it back to the agency to redo the work.

I also am finding that the senior strategist at this agency, who is a male, is giving ME some pushback, as well as my more junior male colleague. I am senior to both of them, and have far more years of niche industry experience. I am really sick and tired of dealing with men in my field who cannot respect a woman who has more knowledge and experience than they do. I don't know what it is that I do wrong to not earn their respect and it bothers me.

I mentioned a strategy to my junior colleague that I want to implement. He challenged me by posing a concern regarding this strategy. I did not have the words in the moment, to support it, so a day later, I sent him a detailed email outlining the strategy more, supporting it with evidence and then telling him if he has any other concerns, to please let me know. I also said that I would bring this strategy to our boss for discussion, which I did, and she LOVES my idea. My idea can potentially drive significantly more traffic AND revenue to the website. My junior colleague never replied to my email.

So, I don't know what's really going on here. Do these two males have big egos? And they don't like having a female above them telling them what is what? Or, maybe I rub them the wrong way with my approach.

I have dealt with tons of male sexism in my industry over the years. In one company, I worked with an all male team, and was spoken down to by one of my male colleagues.

UGh. It can really suck being a female in the work environment sometimes. I have to learn a better way to communicate my ideas so that I am inclusive of my male colleagues and don't alienate them, while also showing that I know what I am talking about and gaining their respect.

It's hard.