When your male colleague is ‘mansplaining,’ here’s what to do
Women are actively avoiding certain male co-workers in order to avoid mansplaining, which in itself may “impact productively, limit professional networks and inhibit career progression.”
Imagine you’re sitting around a conference table discussing a topic you know inside and out, only to be interrupted by a male colleague who then takes over the conversation using essentially the same information you were in the middle of presenting in the first place.
In many workplaces, this condescending behavior is common. It’s become so common, in fact, that it has a name: Mansplaining. The term, first popularized by Rebecca Solnit in her 2008 essay, Men Explain Things to Me, is a portmanteau blending “man” and “explain” that refers to a man providing an unrequested explanation to a woman, often in a condescending tone or interruption.
And new research shows it has a profound impact on women in the workplace, and often leads to stunted career opportunities.
“Results demonstrated that when faced with condescending explanation, voice nonrecognition or interruption, women reacted more negatively and were more likely to see the behavior as indicative of gender bias when the communicator was a man,” the study found. For the study (…)
