I flew my first flight with a female co-pilot in 1991. We were working for Hapag Lloyd charter airline based in Hamburg operating 737 Classics.
I was British and she was German. I sensed she had been given a hard time in her simulator training because she was female. She was an un-smiling young woman and it turned out I was the first Brit captain she had crewed with.
I gave her the first leg and she flew the 737 beautifully (on autopilot of course because the airline was automation mad).
I was relaxing in the left seat enjoying the European scenery when Anya (for that was her name) spoke to me sternly saying "Please be standard. You should have Progress page on your side while I have Legs page on my side"
I thought about this before saying "Anya - it doesn't matter a rat's arse what we have on the CDU. You need to be more flexible." In retrospect that was probably a bit unfair as she had no doubt been crucified by her check pilots in simulator training for being flexible.
Anya looked at me in puzzlement and said "Please - what is a rat's arse?"
When I explained, she burst into laughter and the rest of the trip was a gem of good humour
