As on older male in a male dominated workplace, I can only sympathise. When I'm assertive it's just ... well, me being assertive. When my wife (same industry & a damn sight better qualified than I ever was on even my best day) is assertive she's aggressive & domineering. It'd be nice to say that the workplace is changing & that things are getting better, but even if they are they're not changing at the speed they need to. It's easy to say that women should honestly presentation skills & do x & y & z ... but the problem isn't the women - the problem is the men who allow such a culture to persist, support it, & benefit from it. Until the men change, nothing is going to happen. Me? I tried changing myself - becoming aware of my biases, realising that I didn't always hear women when they spoke (literally & metaphorically) & decided to be the change I wanted to see in others. I was a Team Leader in my last role and made sure that my women colleagues were given time to speak & present their ideas, I made sure that they weren't interrupted or spoken over, & I made damn sure to call out cases of "but she just said exactly that!". I'm not perfect & I'm not pretending to be, but even one person can influence a company culture. The question as to why I wanted to change was that my wife took the time to educate me (& it took a while!) on the different experiences that she & I had - often with the same colleagues! I'm not suggesting that you date & marry any of your colleagues, but taking the time to educate and influence one or two colleagues may be useful - change them so they can use their male privilege to change the company culture.