People are always going to have to make judgements. It's how we choose our lovers, our friends, etc. We choose how to portray ourselves, the way we dress, the way we look, the way we act. It seems to be a modern thing that we're somehow supposed to be objective in this, but we're not and never will be. It's twee, but my overriding rule is treat other people in the way you'd like to be treated and if you've acted like a dick, own it. But don't apologize if you've nothing to apologize for.
I've probably worked for more women than men, which isn't that unusual in the fields I've worked in. Who knew, but they've been people like anyone else. My first female boss was awful, the second was great and introduced to me to the concept of the three-hour three-bottles lunch. Then there was Mad Mary, completely bald from alopecia, she'd normally wear a wig and halfway through every meal, when the server wasn't looking, she'd take it off. She also used to get free drinks by telling susceptible barmen 'yes, it's cancer, I don't have long.' Then the sweary posh women who mostly out-manned the men (and one of whom who now runs the group's favourite left-of-centre news periodical). Some of them have dressed up and wore makeup, some didn't. But I've had male bosses who were similarly diverse though, to be fair, none of them have worn makeup and heels. But who knows, I got a few decades left on the mothership clock.
Things change, the younger women I know call all groups guys. They just do. My wife is a girl. She calls all her friends girls. Ladies would be the sort of sarcasm I wouldn't survive. But the daytime-pyjama wearing marketing girls aboard the mothership were 'ladies, ian, ladies' even though they were about as far from being ladies as possible.
People will insist on being people, of course, with their quirks and foibles. It's what makes us interesting and worthwhile.
