Insensitive To How Insensitive You’re Being

I get an email about sensitivity training and it’s mandatory; everyone has to go. I’ve never been to anything like this before, but I go with an open mind and it’s okay. It’s fairly obvious stuff  — nothing that I hadn’t considered. 

We finish the course and I happen to walk by the trainer.

Me: “Thank you for the course.”

Trainer: “Oh, no problem at all. Companies should encourage this behaviour in all staff.”

Me: “I was going to ask about that. Out of interest, why do the women have a separate course?”

Trainer: “A separate course? What do you mean?”

Me: “Well, there are more women that work at [Company] than men. I presumed that they were taking a separate session?”

Trainer: “Oh, no. We haven’t been asked for any more courses, and we are the only school near here. Perhaps you should ask your management.”

I went back and asked why only the men had been targeted. It turned out that one of the Human Resources assistants had taken it upon herself to send the names of only the men. “Women don’t need to be taught this; it is instinctive to them.” She was the first to go on the next session and had to send an apology to the team.