I work in the media industry as a Producer. My male colleague and I work as a team across the account for one of our biggest clients. We split the projects equally but we both remain copied on all correspondence for all projects – if I’m leading on a project, my colleague will be copied on all emails in case something needs to be covered in my absence and vice versa. Time and time again we have communicated with this client that there will always be a lead contact on each project but we are both across everything, to ensure they feel like their account is well covered and looked after. I fulfill exactly the same job role as my male colleague. Frequently, male marketing managers (yes, more than just one) will email my male colleague directly, without copying me, on a project that I am leading on. This week alone I have three examples from two different marketing managers who have emailed my colleague instead of me, asking for something to be supplied or confirming important details on a project I am running. In one of these instances I had been on copy with one of these marketing managers minutes before discussing the same project, yet when he wanted to email us to confirm on something that needed to be implemented, I was left off copy and it was addressed directly to my male colleague. In the same week, a different marketing manager (same client/company) emailed my colleague to ask for something. I was then copied in by my colleague and I supplied what was needed. The next day the same person again emailed my colleague directly to ask for something else on the same project. Again, I was copied in to confirm. It has occurred to me this week that because I am being copied in to supply what is needed, I am now convinced that these marketing managers have assumed I am my colleague’s assistant, as opposed to considering that I am being copied because I am the one with the necessary knowledge. This is despite the fact that I have worked closely with one of these marketing managers on delivering one of their biggest projects of 2015. I have been in a room with my male colleague and one of these marketing managers has walked in, walked straight past me without even acknowledging me, and headed straight to my colleague, hand outstretched, greeting him with ‘hey buddy’. I have been at the company for two years and at first this behaviour was very annoying but it is now just completely insulting. I work incredibly hard and have delivered some of the biggest projects for this client during this period. It makes me furious to be constantly overlooked by this client who either doesn’t even know me well enough after two years to be able to bring my name to mind when starting a new email chain, or just doesn’t trust me enough to come to me with important details – despite the fact that I have proved myself time and time again and am very capable of doing anything he comes to us for. This week I have told my colleague that I am sick of it and it is not enough for him to be copying me, he needs to explain that he is copying me because I am running the project in question.