Being the Only Woman at the Table means spending a lot of time trying to talk, because there are mere microseconds between one man finishing his thought and the next one jumping in and no one bothers to read nonverbal cues, or talking and seeing half the room choose that moment to look at their phones. It means being interrupted over and over until you either give up or resort to saying “Can I please finish my thought?” like a prig who can’t just roll with the discussion. Or, finally expressing a whole thought and having the conversation pick back up as though you hadn’t said a word.
