On Pilot_DAR's point, I agree utterly. I have never kept track of the countless small kindnesses that have been done for me over the years as a pilot: loans of equipment, ground-engineers who have sorted out some problem away from home and declined any payment, lifts to local hotels or other services when I've been stranded. All purely because in aviation we have a fraternity/sorority where we all as a matter of course help each other out. Some of those favours have definitely come from women as well as men.
On Fernytickles' and Whirlygig's ongoing rant - I understand and sympathise - but this does go both ways. One of my closest friends is a male ward sister in the NHS, whilst one of my hobbies is cooking. Try talking as a younger male to any unrelated female over 50 about cooking and see how far the conversation gets before they start looking at you with grave suspicion - not to mention the difficulties of explaining that Sister is called Pete ! (For that matter, my wife used to be president of the Women's Engineering Society - and if you think that women pilots have issues, try women engineers.) At the same time, terminology that is historically single-gender does need to make do for this more egalitarian age - so we have "madam chairman", "Sister Peter", men and women within a fraternity of pilots, and so on - live with it; there are bigger issues to worry about (like genuine discrimination, which certainly exists).
G