Dismissed in business conversations?

[shootingstar]

Coincidentally when this topic started up, I met up with my oldest niece for dinner who's in city for a business /techical conference for the mining sector. I'm proud of her. I've known her since she was a baby.

She will turn 25 yrs. Graduated with university degree in geological engineering. She's been working full time for a small consulting geological/geotechnical engineering firm and travels on biz on behalf for the firm all over North America. Has been doing it for past 2 yrs. She started biz travel young enough that she was underage to rent a car in any city where she was conducting business. She is bright quiet young woman who was never a tomboy yet never was really girly-girly either. (She does wear pink and lace at times but not at a mining conference ) She probably talks some engineering stuff with her boyfriend who is a civil engineer.

Maybe this was another feeling-excluded-in-predominantly-men situation but she would have had dinner by herself if I hadn't joined her. Apparently there were 4,000-6,000 people registered at this conference.

I asked her about having a biz dinner with a bunch of work-related guys at the conference. She said: It's a bunch of men in their 50's. LOL. Which means these guys are as old as her father, me, etc. LOL

I'll have to remind her: if she is comfortable speaking with her boss, who is 60 and comfortable talking about work with my partner who is 66, then she'll be okay.