There are an endless parade of sexist elements in society, most of them arising from historical events or movements. THi sis not to say I justify them, only to say that they exist.

As to someone talking to the man when the woman is asking the question, it sounds like a classic example of a salesman not wanting to deal with a hard question. It could be sexism, it could be avoidance, both, something else, but no matter, it's rude no matter which.

I'm familiar with the same problem in some ways, I'm a non-PhD who operates almost exclusively in rooms full of PhD's (Bell Labs Research, AT&T Research, Microsoft), some of whom are concious of who has what degree. Never mind who invented the technology under discussion, some of them will ask a question, have me answer it, and look at somebody who works for me and ask "So, Dr. so-and-so what do you think of what he said".

Doesn't happen too much lately, though, I will say.

There are lots of nasty little status things like this in the world.

They stink.