Hey Guys; This is Gender Microaggression
Similar to hundreds of pinpricks accumulating over time, microaggressions can be harmful and, over time, can affect us physically, psychologically, emotionally, and behaviourally.
Gender microaggressions explain the subtle ways in which women are slighted and gas-lighted in male-dominated working and learning environments. For example, referring to everyone as “guys,” while it may seem normal, relates to the gender microaggression theme of invisibility [1].
What are Microaggressions?
According to authors Derek Sue and Lisa Spanierman, microaggressions are "verbal and nonverbal interpersonal exchanges in which the perpetrator causes harm to a target, whether intended or unintended” [2]. These forms of discrimination are deeply embedded in our culture and are often unconsciously delivered as part of our normal way of speaking to each other. Regardless of how normal they may seem, they still cause harm to the person on the receiving end and may often leave them questioning their sanity.
In their book Microaggressions in Everyday Life, Sue and Spanierman [3] list seven themes or ways in which gender microaggressions might be enacted:
Assumption of inferiority
Denial of sexism
Invisibility
Restrictive gender roles
Sexual objectification
Second-class citizenship
Use of sexist language
“The perpetrator of a microaggression will often deny the hidden message and question your own experiential reality, effectively gas-lighting you.”
How are Microaggressions Experienced?
Contrary to hostile sexism, which is much easier to recognize, micro-aggressive behaviours are more subtle and are often considered harmless by many [4]. Researchers describe microaggressions as “pervasive, negatively impacting the mental health and everyday experiences of women” [5], and as “the manifestation of implicit bias” [6].
While conducting research and reading studies on women in trades and women in STEM, I was able to connect nearly all the subtle non-inclusive behaviours experienced by participants to one of the seven themes of microaggression. Here are just a few examples (click in web browser version for more detail):
-
A research participant states, “There’s definitely a level of proving yourself … the guys don’t expect much from you because you are a girl. They don’t think you might know as much as they do” [7]
-
Researchers describe a specific instance in a STEM classroom where the women members of a group were working on a mechanical project and once the men came into the room, the roles changed so that the women were doing more menial tasks and the men were doing the mechanical work [8].
-
Participant Elena states, “He was really perverted. When I was taking my sweater off, he would talk about my chest. Or if I would bend down he would talk about my ass” [9]
In my research, a participant describes her experience of microaggression: “And you take it a little bit personally, even if it’s not directed at you. Uh, I’ve learned over the years to kinda just try to brush it off but it’s always there, you know” [10]. The single incident described here is just one of many that can happen daily to a woman in a male-dominated environment. Harmful effects over time include the following [11] (click in web browser version for more detail).
-
•Chronic stressors are associated with disease
-
•Cognitive disruption
•Stereotype Threat
-
•Depression
•Anxiety, fear, and stress
•Rage and anger
-
•Hyper-vigilance and skepticism
•Forced compliance
•Fatigue and hopelessness
•Avoidance and disengagement
Sanity Check
The perpetrator of a microaggression will often deny the hidden message and question your own experiential reality, effectively gas-lighting you. They might accuse you of misinterpreting their statement, being overly sensitive, or suggest that you should accept their statements. For example, I once worked in a shop where a colleague frequently made inappropriate comments. When called out, he would accuse me of not being able to take a joke, as if saying "I was only joking" gave him license to say anything he wanted.
It's important to note that if something makes you feel bad, you must honour that emotion as your truth and not let others dictate your reality. Your experience is very real and completely valid.
Notes:
1. Sue, Derald Wing, and Lisa Spanierman. *Microaggressions in Everyday Life*. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2020.
2 - 4. see note 1
5. Nadal, Kevin L., Saling Hamit, Olivia Lyons, Alaina Weinberg, and Lindsay Corman. "Gender Microaggressions: Perceptions, Processes, and Coping Mechanisms of Women." In *Psychology for Business Success*, edited by M. A. Paludi, 193-220. Vol. 1. Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2013.
6. Erin S. O’Leary et al., “Creating inclusive classrooms by engaging STEM faculty in culturally responsive teaching workshops,” International Journal of STEM Education, 7 no.1 (2020): 32-47. p 3
7. Katherine MacIsaac and Jose Domene, "Learning the Tricks of the Trades: Women's Experiences," *Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy* 48, no. 1 (2014): 1–21, p. 12.
8. Seron, Carroll, Susan S. Silbey, Erin Cech, and Brian Rubineau. "Persistence Is Cultural: Professional Socialization and the Reproduction of Sex Segregation." *Work and Occupations* 43, no. 2 (2016): 178-214. [URL].
9. Denissen, A. M. "Crossing the Line: How Women in the Building Trades Interpret and Respond to Sexual Conduct at Work." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 39, no. 3 (2010): 297–327. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241609341827
10. Lisa Soderquist Weatherby, “Interpreting Inclusivity in Male-dominated Apprenticeship Classrooms” (doctoral thesis, University of Liverpool, 2023).
11. see note 1.
