Wikipedia Merriam-Webster defines mansplaining as follows: “Mansplaining is, at its core, a very specific thing. It's what occurs when a man talks condescendingly to someone (especially a woman) about something he has incomplete knowledge of, with the mistaken assumption that he knows more about it than the person he's talking to does.”
Beware, ladies, these words are not an invitation to shut down a man every time he says something that you disagree with or in a way that you feel sensitive about. Rather, they serve to acknowledge a legacy of stereotypical behaviour that both men and women need to move away from if they are ever to operate as peers. Let us look objectively at how we, women, communicate, at some ways that we use language to manipulate men:
This is by no means an exhaustive list but it should be enough to illustrate that women are not innocent victims here. We are part of the problem. We want to play both sides; strong and independent yet playing to men’s egos when it suits us. So, the challenge that faces us is that we need to play fair if we want to be treated fairly. We need to see past the gender issue that threatens to destabilise effective communication and agree on some common ground rules – ground rules that apply to men and women alike. Here are my top five suggestions that you might negotiate with your colleagues:
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