I worked as a contractor for almost 5 years before they hired me. My male counterpart was hired within one year. Not saying that was intentional, but it happened. He also got many more accolades and was eventually promoted over me. Again--maybe that was valid, or it wasn't. I didn't notice that his work was much better than mine, but maybe I'm biased. In the end, they laid us all off to outsource to India. In my next position, I won't put up with so much.