By Casey King
We all know that in the workplace you will have to work with many different types of people. You may not like everyone, but it is important to be able to productively work in a group with them. However, some women are having trouble dealing with the grumpy man in their office, who ignores their ideas and sees them as getting their job by luck. So how are women expected to deal with male chauvinism in their workplace?
Male chauvinism is an attitude that women are inferior. These types of men often devalue women’s ideas and contributions in the workplace. Although the idea is new, these behaviors have been happening for a long time. What use to be everyday behavior for the office, is now finally being seen in a new light. Women are looking for ways to deal with smart men who have a chauvinist attitude.
Rebekah Campbell wrote about her experiences recently in The New York Times article “When Women Manage Men Who Don’t Respect Women”. She talks about an interview she conducted with a male coworker. Her interviewee frustrated her when he would speak only to the male interviewer and use a flirtatious tone when responding to her questions. She also talks about dealing with chauvinism in past positions. Some male workers have not treated her or her ideas with respect because of her gender. She says she tried to become more masculine, play the “girl” role, and even get other male workers to back her ideas, but none of her solutions really fixed the problem.
There is no clear way to deal with men who are stuck in this deluded frame of mind that women can’t do the same job as them, if not better. The Huffington Post tries to advise women in their article “3 Ways Women in Business Deal With Male Chauvinism”. The article’s author, Vicki Donlan, says that some good ways to start gaining respect from chauvinist men is to talk to other men in the office one-on-one who don’t have this attitude. They might be able to lend a helping hand, but they may also want to not seem as if they are going against another worker.
This article also brings up another good idea. That woman should accept the fact that this man’s attitude is not going to change. There is not a lot you can do to get this type of man to change his whole point of view on women, but you may be able to gain respect for yourself at work. Showing that you are a valued member of the office and have respectable ideas is something more worth your time and energy, than trying to change his views.
We always want to get along with people in the office, but chauvinism can often stand in our way. It is hard to deal with people who don’t give us credit for our work because of our gender, and even harder to accept that in 2014 this is still a struggle women must deal with in their workplace.