Sugar and spice and all things...?

Had a great chat the other day with Angela and Claire from Salford Business School's GATE project (no dedicated website).

GATE looks at the relationship between gender and age in the IT industry and Angela and Claire have carried out a load of interviews with women working in the sector. Some of the stories of bullying and harassment from male colleagues are truly harrowing.

We talked about the experience in general for women working in all-male teams. One of the most successful female DPs I know is the sort of person who takes any sexist remarks in her stride and probably doesn't even notice them. Another DP colleague is much more sensitive.

There was a brilliant ad on a while ago with two guys in the loos at a club telling each other their hair looked nice. It was hysterical. Men just don't treat each other with kid gloves.

Women generally tend to be more supportive of each other - in face to face situations at least.

There are two issues here. Firstly, do we need to let men know that certain behaviour in the workplace, however "harmless", is simply unnacceptable (and I'm talking about a more holistic approach than "ooh, let's not sware: ladies present!" - there needs to be an understanding that women might have a different take on "bonding" behaviour)?

Secondly, it's a commonly held belief that you need a bit of arrogance to survive in film and TV, and especially so if you want people to follow your creative vision.

Are some people simply too "nice" to succeed?