Question: I am a recently graduated engineer and have just joined a small software company in India. Our company is divided into project teams that are further divided into groups of three people.

My first project is starting soon and I've been assigned to a group with two women. Unfortunately I'm come from a traditional background, am rather shy and was in a male-dominated college track which means that I only rarely interacted with women. While some might think this is a stupid question, I'm feeling very nervous about working together in this group. 

**How should I build and maintain a professional relationship with my female coworkers?**

Answer: 
Why does them being a woman have any bearing on how you interact with them in a professional workplace? To have a professional relationship, **you should interact with them in the same manner as you do with men in a professional setting - with respect.** Colleagues, irrespective of male or female, appreciate and expect professionalism, respect, and recognition for the merit of work well done.

A colleague's gender is irrelevant to how one should conduct oneself in a workplace, and no special preference should be shown in one's professional conduct **solely due to the colleague being female.** To show special deference, or to apply different standards of conduct when interacting with women **can even be perceived as insulting.** She is no different from any other colleague, other than she is a woman. 

Some of the comments below say this might be dangerous or ill -advised because of one's behavior with men. **If you treat men "roughly" because its accepted within your culture, then no you should not extend this treatment to women.** As mentioned by @ Matthew Read in a comment, rather than look for the lowest common denominator and adapt to the "culture", be the change you want to see and treat all with respect. 

In the end, I will borrow a quote from @ Patricia Shanahan and say this "**You should speak and interact with them just like male colleagues."**
Some of the comments suggest that treating your female coworkers the same way you would normally treat male coworkers might not be a great idea, assuming there are less-kind treatments that are acceptable in your society between men, but not from men to women.

The fact that you are concerned with treating your coworkers properly is a good thing. I suggest that you think of your question as not only about your female coworkers, but about **all** of your coworkers. They should all be treated with the same respect and professionalism. In addition, it will be much easier to train yourself to treat all of your coworkers well if you treat them **all the same way**.

You may be thinking, "Todd, surely I should treat my boss with the utmost respect, care, and professionalism!" I agree with that, you *should* treat your boss that well. So I'm suggesting that you **treat all your coworkers as well as you treat your boss(es)**.

Anything that you wouldn't say or do to your boss, don't say or do to any coworkers, male or female.

As an aside, you may very well find that learning to be on a team with two women will be a valuable personal growth experience for you. Not only will you learn how to work with people with whom you might not easily feel comfortable around (which is something we all have to do, regardless of gender), if your society does have an emphasis on traditional gender roles, then it's likely you will find your female teammates have fresh perspectives that male colleagues would not have. This is an excellent opportunity for you to grow and foster in yourself a unique perspective, that will make you a better employee and coworker and even a better person overall.