I have thought that myself more than once Fact is we can't and the question is... what do we do when we don't?

MY personal opinion is that everyone, even the worst asshole, deserves a chance to moderate their behaviour and they can't do that unless they know that their behaviour is upsetting people. I have often found that a lot of people just don't realise they are upsetting people with the things they do/say.

I also think that confrontations are not the way to deal with things unless you really have to because the natural instinct when confronted with hostility is to fight.

Maybe a few gentle pushes in the right direction might help. Why not talk to him about how much respect YOU have for the women you work with or even women in general and see how he reacts. If he reacts very negatively then maybe ask him why he has such a problem with women... you never know he might tell you the reason. Just keep pushing and challenging gently and see where you end up.

Good luck. THere's nothing worse than being unhappy at work