‘Mansplaining’: How to Stop It

Some express concern that the humorous term “mansplaining” is polarizing and risks trivializing a harmful competence-questioning behavior. But it succinctly describes a phenomenon centuries older than the word itself: unsolicited and condescending explaining or advising. While women might engage in this behavior, the harm to the woman experiencing the “mansplaining” is greater when it comes from a man.

This is because when a man condescends to a woman, gendered stereotypes reflecting status and biases regarding competence come into play. Mansplaining behaviors from men “might remind women receivers of societally normative gender roles…and, in doing so, may induce in women the…perception that one is being seen through the lens of a pervasive group stereotype (e.g., those associated with gender, race, and age),” researchers Erik Santoro and Hazel Rose Markus found.

“[I]n cases of condescending behavior, women see the communicator as questioning their competence more so than do men,” scholars Caitlin Q. Briggs et al found. “[C]ompetence-questioning behaviors directed at disadvantaged groups in the workplace (e.g., women, minorities) are a way to maintain the status quo and perpetuate inequality, not only solidifying the status of advantaged members but also leading disadvantaged members to internalize stereotypes.” The researchers found that these behaviors occurred more often in group settings.

“Mansplaining” can hurt job performance and job satisfaction, Briggs et al warn. But its harms extend beyond its receiver, scholar Laura Montanaro argues, contributing to “further relational harms of inequality and misrecognition, undermining the equal social relations and social trust required for deliberation.” This can hurt the workplace as well as the worker.

To give feedback without generating feelings of disrespect, Santoro and Markus suggest all people avoid giving unsolicited, generic, or prescriptive advice. Instead, the researchers suggest, respond to the speaker with a question or a tailored suggestion. Of course, this requires listening before speaking.

Managers must also address competence-questioning behaviors like mansplaining and interrupting. Briggs et al suggest managers hold discussions and trainings about how to appropriately give feedback or question a colleague’s ideas or actions. “Observational audits of meeting behaviors might also give work teams useful insights into whose ideas are incorporated and when gendered behaviors may be occurring,” the researchers write.

Mansplaining, 1896.

Finally, the receivers of mansplaining and other microaggressions can take action. Raising the awareness of colleagues and enlisting allies can help. If you are running the meeting, writer Ariane Resnick suggests outlining rules to make sure everyone is heard, and crediting the right people for their ideas. If you are lower in the organization, Resnick recommends logging events, with dates and times, for future reporting.

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Sources:

Caitlin Q. Briggs, Danielle M. Gardner, and Ann Marie Ryan, “Competence‑Questioning Communication and Gender: Exploring Mansplaining, Ignoring, and Interruption Behaviors.” Journal of Business and Psychology (2023) 38: 1325–1353 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-022-09871-7).

 Erik Santoro and Hazel Rose Markus, “Is Mansplaining Gendered? The Effects of Unsolicited, Generic, and Prescriptive Advice on U.S. Women.” Psychological Science (2024) 35(12): 1395–1415 (DOI: 10.1177/09567976241268630).

Laura Montanaro, “The Antidemocratic Harms of Mansplaining.” Cambridge University Press (2024) online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592724001063).

Ariane Resnick, CNC, “How to Deal With Mansplaining at Work.” VeryWellMind, May 7, 2024.

Elizabeth Aura McClintock PhD, “The Psychology of Mansplaining.” Psychology Today, March 31, 2016.