For many women, misogyny in the workplace is not always loud or obvious; it can be hidden in constant interruptions, mansplaining, sexist 'joking conversations,' ignoring ideas, and labeling them as too fussy if they express their opinion.
For many women, work is not just about completing tasks, participating in meetings, and building a career. It is also about learning to interact with male colleagues who interrupt them, talk over them, dismiss their ideas, or make remarks that make them doubt the relevance of their statement.
During Women's Month, these daily experiences serve as an important reminder that misogyny in the work environment does not always take the form of explicit insults or open discrimination.
Sometimes it is a man who constantly interrupts a female colleague in meetings. It is a male colleague who explains something to a woman who is more qualified. It is also a woman whose idea goes unnoticed until a male colleague repeats it, after which everyone starts listening.
Furthermore, a woman may learn to carefully choose her words because showing assertiveness can quickly lead to labels such as 'arrogant,' 'aggressive,' or 'difficult.'
For some women, dealing with this behavior becomes an exhausting part of professional life. A woman might come to a meeting prepared, knowledgeable, and confident, only to find herself having to fight for the right to speak. She might raise an issue and be told she is overreacting. She might challenge a decision and be accused of inappropriate behavior. If she refrains from inappropriate conduct, she might be described as someone who 'doesn't know how to joke.'
The problem is that these situations may seem minor individually. However, when repeated over months and years, they have a deep impact. Women begin to doubt their own abilities, qualifications, and voice. Some start speaking less in meetings, others stop offering ideas, and a third avoid any confrontation, seeing what happens to women who challenge the positions of influential or difficult male colleagues.
For others, the reaction is even greater determination. They learn to document conversations, defend their boundaries, and ensure their contributions are recorded. They find supportive colleagues and mentors who remind them that the problem lies not in their personality but in the culture surrounding them.
The difficulty is that women should not have to develop survival strategies just to receive the same professional respect as their male colleagues. Sexism in the workplace is not always perpetrated by men who openly label themselves as misogynists. It can exist in seemingly ordinary behavior, such as assuming a woman will take notes during a meeting, expecting female employees to organize office events, interrupting women who question their authority more frequently, or expecting them to perform emotional and administrative labor that is not required of their male colleagues.
There is also pressure to remain pleasant. A man speaking firmly may be perceived as confident. A woman doing the same may be perceived as difficult. A man challenging his manager's decision may be seen as ambitious. A woman challenging her manager's decision may be accused of disrespect.
This double standard forces women to constantly calculate how to communicate: how firmly can I speak? Will I be called aggressive? Should I challenge or better keep quiet? How will my statement affect my career?
These are questions no employee should have to ask simply because of their gender. Women's Month is an opportunity to celebrate women's achievements, but it is also a chance to examine the environments where women are expected to succeed. Creating truly inclusive workplaces requires more than just appointing women to leadership positions or holding Women's Month events. It means analyzing the work culture that allows sexist behavior to become the norm. It means managers must curb inappropriate behavior instead of expecting women to tolerate it. It means male colleagues must recognize moments when they dominate conversations, ignore female voices, or occupy space that should be shared. And it means creating workplaces where a woman can speak firmly without fear of punishment for having an opinion.
For women who have dealt with toxic male behavior for years, the goal should not be to become better at surviving in this situation. The goal should be to create workplaces where they no longer have to do so.
