Women have been sharing their own “popcorn actress” work moments after actress Demi Moore recalled being spoken down to on set 30 years ago.

The star won her first Golden Globe on January 6 at the age of 62 as best female actor in a film (musical or comedy) in The Substance, and in her acceptance speech she shared that a producer had told her she would never get to this stage of her career.

“Thirty years ago I had a producer tell me that I was a popcorn actress, and at that time, I made that mean that this [the award] wasn’t something that I was allowed to have … that I could do movies that were successful but that I couldn’t be acknowledged,” she told audiences as she clutched her Golden Globe trophy.

In 1995, zero percent of CEOs at a Fortune 500 company were women. This increased to 53 women, or just 10.6 percent, by 2021, according to data from Statista. But while, statistically, women are moving up the ladder in the workplace, there are still incidences of gender bias or misogyny that women have to overcome.

“When I first got into finance I was excited to get an analyst position at a big company,” Celia Corley, now a financial adviser at Academized.com, told Newsweek. “But at one meeting, after a presentation, a senior colleague said: ‘Excellent, but you’re there because clients like having women on the team. No one wants you to be the brain here.’

Corley was “shocked,” but kept quiet “for fear of being titled a ‘difficult employee’.” But the comment stayed with her, even as she gained recognition “for my results and the courage to speak up on behalf of myself and others.”

“Years later, when I met that coworker as a leader, he would say ‘I must have underestimated you.’ I said ‘You did, but I didn’t underestimate myself.’

“That experience inspired me to create a workplace where others wouldn’t be dismissed in the same way,” she said.

Bridget Lohrius, founder and CEO of women’s career coaching platform Sandwina, has had “a few popcorn actress moments” throughout her career, the most “significant one … not that long ago,” aged in her 40s.

The senior role had her reporting directly to the CEO, and in her second week a male colleague told her directly that he had advised the CEO “not to hire me. That I was out of the loop because I was a mother. That I wasn’t qualified for the role, and he had no intentions of helping or supporting me.”

“I kept it together but I was so disappointed in myself for how poorly I handled the situation,” she said, adding women “get harassed and we blame ourselves,” despite her being a successful woman and mother of two girls, “allowing myself to be bullied.”

It inspired her to launch her own company, which coaches women to get more out of work, and joked she has “this jack**s to thank for lighting a fire under me to build what I was meant to build.”

Glenn Phillips, CEO of a real estate company, recalled a comment thrown at his wife Doris Phillips, founder of RealSource Title Insurance and Real Estate Closings which operates in multiple states, as well as the founder of a nonprofit supplying toys and school supplies to children in shelters.

“At a business networking event just a few years ago, a business owner said to her, ‘How’s your little company? Why don’t you just get [your husband] to give you an office and go to work for him?'”

Amanda Russo, CEO of Cornerstone Paradigm Consulting from a working-class background, recalled being made to stand up “in front of the entire company” as a an executive said “people like me never amount to anything—’you can put lipstick on a pig’.”

“It was a 2-3 minute tirade, but it felt like an hour,” she said. “I was humiliated, sure, but in that moment, I also realized it wasn’t about me. He felt threatened by me—why, I still don’t know—but I could see it.”

Veruska Anconitano, a consultant at Iamveru.com, worked in a traditionally male-dominated environment, and was often “underestimated and dismissed,” with one boss telling her straight-out that “I would never be recognized for my contributions … I was just one of many, doing work anyone could do.”

“At the time, their remarks felt like an unbreakable ceiling over my ambitions. For a while, I even questioned if they were right,” she said. “But over time, I realized that this perspective didn’t define my worth or potential. Instead, I chose to focus on my growth, celebrate my own achievements, and push forward.”

Tech talent expert and CEO of Tenth Revolution Group James Lloyd-Townshend, dedicated to fostering inclusive environments, said there are many reasons recognition often comes later in our careers.

“As we get older, our ability to read situations and respond instinctively improves, and it’s difficult to have that same perspective without it,” he told Newsweek.

“Experience is a priceless commodity but it takes time to accumulate,” he said, acknowledging “for women, who are often expected to sit out a chunk of their working life to begin families and take on other caregiving responsibilities, they can also find themselves playing catch up when it comes to matching that experience, which is why it’s so important to level up within the workplace and proactively look to mentor and offer opportunities that can help get them up to speed rather than having to wait it out.”

If someone feels as if they are in a rut and not being acknowledged for their work, they should “try to identify what’s really bothering you. Is it the job itself, the company culture, or even external pressures?”

“Quitting isn’t the only solution, but when staying feels like betraying yourself, it’s time to start planning your next move.”