Are you treated fairly by your employer?

The department I work in is run by a group of male managers who seem to have a lad culture thing going and sit there farting and sharing bawdy jokes. They make a point of ogling young women who come into the office but they won't offer women the same training as men so that they have no opportunity for promotion.

It is part of a large UK organisation which has equal opportunities policies but there is nobody to enforce them and the HR dept. is at the other end of the country.

I believe that if I was to complain that the managers would find 'mistakes' in my work and therefore reason for my dismissal.

Do you have any written evidence of the discrimination that you describe?

If the situation makes you unhappy then I would want to get it sorted or get another job anyway. So gather as much evidence as possible and then follow your employer's grievance procedure. If there are any other ladies in your office who feel the same see if they are have any information which may back up your complaint, or provide witness evidence to any incidents of discrimination. Of course any grievance raised has to be shared with the person/people that the complaint is about - but this should be done fairly.

If you decide to take this route and it all ends badly, as long as you have evidence of the discrimination I would then go to ACAS for advice on taking your employer to an employment tribunal.

At the workplace it is the man's domain and the male still think that they must play the role of the king. But the good thing is that in your organisation there exists an policy for equal opportunities for male and female. Which mean that the senior management of your organisation has a diversity program which the HR department must enforce. In fact in most organisations now diversity is a hot topic. You can always enquire from the HR department whether there is a diversity policy and how they are implementing it.

Join the trade union at your organisation first or if there isn't one, join the trade union for your sector anyway. This should mean you will be able to take your employers to court if they dismiss you unfarily.

As in Glengarry Glen Ross?