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Yes, your office. These happen everywhere and you may not even notice them. I’m not offering solutions in this post (more on that here). I just want us to start reflecting on the daily discomfort we create for 50% of our workforce—often without knowing it. I also want women to start to see how some seemingly benign gestures are rooted in sexist thinking and pose a risk to our self esteem (which can already be a rollercoaster at work).
Calling a female colleague who looks under 30 “young lady”
Calling female colleagues “girls”. (I’ve never heard anyone call a male colleague a boy.)
Man-spreading your legs and taking up more room than is intended in a meeting, especially at the cost of the personal space to your female colleagues.
Asking your female colleagues to do secretarial tasks that is not in their job descriptions (and skipping over male colleagues for those same tasks).
Speaking over women in a meeting. You know, interrupting, and then just continuing to talk until she is fully silenced.
Speaking for women in a meeting—or any setting.
Mansplaining anywhere.
Taking a seat at the table while female colleagues sit on the perimeter of the room.
Have more gender-based microaggressions that you’ve experienced in a workplace? Share them below.