Our town is one of those town that has grown markedly during the last 20 years.
Twenty years ago, (which is before I ever got here) that female tech (let's call her Sally) was the ONLY X-ray tech in the Hospital. As time went by, the town's population grew and the Hospital got more and more techs, both male and female. That female tech then became the Department Manager. In other words, she was The Boss. She remained The Boss for 15 years.
The years passed and Sally decided to step down as Manager to become a "regular tech" and reduce her life stress. The next Manager was a female and so was the Manager after that who is the current Manager.
Amongst the X-ray techs, Sally now makes more money than any other tech, including the 6 male techs we now have, although Sally "does the same job" for the simple fact that Sally has more seniority than anybody else and seniority translates into a higher hourly wage.
For a few years, we only had one male tech and that particular male tech sometimes had a feeling that things were stacked against him in the "office politics" department However, his wage was based on job description and seniority as was the salary of every other tech.
"However, his wage was based on job description and seniority as was the salary of every other tech."
Yes, but he was also a man. So he had a chance to move up in the male-dominated-coot hierarchy, instead of being ground down by the sexist-patriarchal-old-geezer-strip-club-goin' boardroom boys.
/channelling BITM