I'm saying that the fact that, from his perspective (and somewhat from hers, self-deprecation has awful effects), she had lower standing than he did, probably helped fuel this. Even if it wasn't her gender that caused it, but her youth.

It's hard to not be ageist, but in this case I think there was some of that "she's half my age so why is she higher ranking than me" involved.

But you're definitely right that there's not much evidence here. I can still make assumptions no matter how much of an ass they make me.