Us

So, living in Toronto, Canada I have come to the realization that women in the workplace need to work twice as hard than men do to either get a promotion, get recognized, and be seen as smart, mature women. On top of the fact that there is this commonly known, yet not spoken, demand for us to not surface the fact that we might get pregnant and therefore will leave on maternity leave, or that we might get engaged and therefore our attention will get devoted to planning the wedding and therefore we are "dropping the ball".
At my current job I play a role on a daily basis with senior management to proof myself to them. I don't mean "kiss ass", I mean prove constantly that I am smart, outgoing and that I am doing a great job.
Not sure if you have noticed, but men and even women who are bosses are less likely to make "constructive criticism" to men that report to them. I have constantly noticed, and I am not sure if there is somebody else out there who might think the same or might have seen similar reactions; but overall women and men bosses are more careful of how male staff will respond to criticism compared to female staff. Men tend to react less emotional and more defensive, so senior management are more careful when addressing them. Compared to women who may not react as defensive. If they do so, then they are labeled as aggressive, hormonal, and not humble when taking criticism.
So when it comes to the workplace, do men still have quite the upper hand? and if so, how do we smartly get around it?