I completely agree, similar situations have happened to me at my first job as a female engineer.

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In my experience (just one person- I do not mean to offend or discredit any other engineer) at school, there wasn't a HUGE amount of sexism. My friends had experienced some sexist situations, but personally, I didn't understand it all either. The only thing that mattered was that I learned the information and was good at it, and if I did that, I got all of the respect I needed from my classmates, professors, etc.

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I'm now about 6 months into my first job, and WOW it is completely different. I now truly understand why these organizations and female-oriented groups exist. I have experienced so much sexism and "old school" ways of thinking way too often. My company isn't even that bad! I can't imagine the culture for women at companies that don't actively try to stop this. Unconscious bias is so much stronger in the minds of older employees, its mind boggling.

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I want to walk into a room at work and have every know that I'm a damn good engineer based on my merit, not based on any assumptions on race or gender.