Have you noticed this happen in your life? I sure have.

This cartoon comically lays out the way women’s comments and suggestions are often not taken seriously… unless it comes out of a male’s mouth. From “mansplaining” to not listening to just ignoring, it is a problem that suppresses women’s voices and teaches them not to voice their opinions. Whenever I would get interrupted repeatedly, I used to internalize it, thinking, ‘Maybe I really don’t have important things to say’, and then I realized, ‘What the hell?! Yes I do. And so do other women.’

And study after study has shown that women get “out-talked” by their male peers whether it is in school, work or in social interactions. Men speak more, longer and get more credibility, just because they are male. The salt on the wound is that there is still the misconception that women are doing more talking, when in reality, their voices are getting drowned out.

Luckily, because of the awareness around this, I think it is starting to change. I myself am very lucky to have guy friends who genuinely listen and take people seriously, no matter if they are male/female or anywhere in between. One particular guy-friend is outspoken about it now, acknowledging he has done some that in the past and wants to help the conversation going about making sure women are being heard too.

Check out this fantastic article to learn more.

Sources

Chemaly, Soraya. “10 Words Every Girl Should Know” Huffington Post. July 2014. Web. 2105.  http://www.alternet.org/gender/10-words-every-girl-should-learn

Krupnick, Catherine, G. “Women and Men in the Classroom: Inequality and it’s remedies” Harvard University. 1985. Web. 2015. http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/krupnick.html