Looking into why men

decide what we do
My-splain
or don’t know
Man-splain
Man-splain advantage

In todays’ workplace climate, companies

have started to emphasize more of a focus
on equal opportunity employment. This
usually includes attempting to close the
wage gap. Though a serious effort has been
made by even the largest of companies,
statistics show that they are still falling short.
Transparency is scarce when considering
equality. One of the worst offenders has
been Silicon Valley, where woman don’t
only hold an astonishingly low number of the
tech jobs but also hold less shares on
average. This culture is showing itself to not
be improving in almost every profession you
could think of. The so called “Bro Culture”
even shows itself at the executive level. Only
4.6% of CEO’s are women, proving further
that the problem is yet to be fixed no matter
how high up you look.
Due to statistics like these, it has been
shown that work environments can be
harder for women than men. There have
been less opportunities for promotion and
a lot of times, women struggle to get their
work noticed. The workplace can even
be dangerous for women.
At least 25% of women have experienced
workplace sexual harassment according
to the EEOC. Also in the same study it was
shown that 77% experience verbal sexual
harassment. As women only hold 30% of
the HR jobs it is likely that many incidents
of sexual harassment go either
unreported or pushed aside as there may
not be a female representative to talk to
or to really understand the issue.
Movements like #metoo and campaigns run
by great women like Michelle Obama have
been started to bring issues like these to light.
They strive to change the culture inside and
outside of the workplace environment. Major
steps have been made to prevent sexual
harassment, and previous offences are now
being prosecuted. A point has been proven
that this will no longer be stood for by men
even, as high up in the professional “food
chain” as CEO, being fired for such charges.
 Bias - A particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling, or opinion,
especially one that is preconceived or unreasoned. – Dictionary.com

The office can be a harsh environment for women. Even though the numbers
are starting to balance out (aside from jobs in tech), it is still commonplace for
women to feel as if they need to earn their place more than their male
coworkers.
These views that women have of their own performance and work is based on
the biased views of others. Unconscious bias is a silent killer in today’s time.
People know that it is wrong to be openly racist, sexist, anti-religion or
discriminatory against someone’s sexual orientation, but they often aren’t aware
of their more subtle leanings towards these ideas. These quiet views may not be
loudly expressed but have proven to show themselves more in actions. Bias can
show itself by undue criticism or as an unprofessional interruption in a meeting.
Historically, credit for great scientific discoveries has been taken from women of
science by their male counterparts. It goes to show how little progress we have
made if we still see history repeating itself still in favor of men.
 MANSPLAINING - "When a man explains something to a woman in a patronizing
tone as if the woman too emotional and illogical to understand." - Urban Dictionary

Women in tech often get the brunt of this experience.

There is a phenomenon that is very familiar to many
Their capabilities are constantly being called into
women. A very subtle use of bias and language
question in a male dominated environment. There
discrimination that is pervasive in today’s culture. It is
have been many public instances of men stating that
when a man decides of his own accord what a woman
they do not believe women can possible on the same
knows, decides of her capability to do her job and
academic level and especially not smarter than men.
unjustly questions or undermines her opinion. The term for
A famous example of this was the “Google Memo”. A
it is “Mansplaining.” Mansplaining is described as a
letter written by James Demore, who at the time was
patronizing tone and can be harmful to a women’s self-
an engineer at Google about Google’s diversity
esteem, and even to the view others may have of her
policies. He wrote about how discrimination against
ability to work. This tone is not only patronizing, it is
women was justified and claimed that studies have
blatantly derogatory and discriminatory.
proved that men are inherently smarter and more
capable in the engineering field than woman. He was
fired from his position at Google as the company
stated that his views in no way aligned with theirs. But
even with that statement, they culture in the
company has not seemed to change much.
A common scenario
Imagine just working away minding your own
business, knowing that you are perfectly
capable to do what you're doing, and a man
walks up to you and starts looking at your work.
He then begins to "lightly suggest" some
changes or begins to speak of how he would do
it differently. You didn't ask for his opinion. He
then offers his help, his un-asked for help that
you never expressed that you need. So now
maybe you tell him, "I'm fine dude, I've got this",
thinking that he will listen and take a hint. In a
good scenario, he backs off and understands
that you're capable, but very commonly the
man comes back or slams your submitted work
citing the changes he suggested.
 Mansplaining is an unfortunate example of the sad culture that is still so
prevalent in today’s society. Women are still trying to fight all the forces
that allow things like this to happen, but it takes more than just the victims
to win. Women need allies inside and outside of the office. Even without
using this term to describe certain male behavior, it is always worth
considering basic rules of conduct. As we were all taught in
kindergarten, treat others the way you wish to be treated. No one likes to
be spoken down to, given unsolicited advice or to be told how not to
live their life or do their jobs.

There is so much proof that women are totally capable of working their
jobs, it’s not kind to mess with that. We need to try even harder to
change the culture around us, and the change starts here. Let us all live
our best lives and stop the cycle of "Mansplaining.”
Citations
Skillscrush, ”6 Alarming Equity Stats We Should All Be Talking About This Women's History Month” Skillscrush,
12, Mar 2019,
https://skillcrush.com/2019/03/12/gender-inequality-stats/

FairyGodBoss ”Women in Tech: Facts, Figures and Percentages” FairyGodBoss,

https://fairygodboss.com/articles/women-in-tech-facts-figures-and-percentages

CNBC Make It ”A new report highlights Silicon Valley’s stunning equity gap” CNBC Make It, 9, Sept 2019,
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/19/in-silicon-valley-women-face-an-equity-gap-that-is-far-larger-than-
the-pay-gap.html

Observer ”A Data-Backed Look Into Silicon Valley’s Gender Equality Problem” Observer, 16, Nov, 2017,
https://observer.com/2017/11/a-data-backed-look-into-silicon-valleys-gender-equality-problem/

FairyGodBoss ”Sexual Harassment Statistics You Should Know” FairyGodBoss,

https://fairygodboss.com/articles/sexual-harassment-statistics

Wikipedia ”Sexual Harassment Statistics You Should Know”, Wikipedia, 21, Sept 2019,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_Ideological_Echo_Chamber

Wikipedia ”A New Survey Finds 81 Percent of Women Have Experienced Sexual Harrassment”, Wikipedia,
21, Feb 2018,
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/21/587671849/a-new-survey-finds-eighty-percent-of-
women-have-experienced-sexual-harassment