Gender in the Workforce

I am taking a social work class, and we talk alot about gender,race,society,religion, and a lot of other factors that deal with social problems in the world. One that struck me was the male vs. female side of thing when it comes to the workplace. The lack of respect for women is a shameful truth. I have a man in class who talked about working at a credit union, 2 people were in control a man and a woman. When the man would visit everyone would straighten up and get to work in a hurry. When the woman would visit everyone was laid back and would be like," Hey Sherry, How are ya?". It's disturbing to know women are treated differenetly, even by people under them, when she has the same position as a man. Also a woman is considered a bitch if she is demanding, whereas a man is considered in control for the same attitude. The most disturbing thing is that men applying for the same job as when, on average, get paid 3 thousands dollars more, starting out in their career. This is NOT RIGHT!