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My husband does my favorite though. He’s a pretty typical looking manly guy but I handle all the car stuff. Sometimes he’ll take the car for an oil change and when they try to upsell he’ll tell them “oh my wife just ordered filters - she’ll change them.” Or “my wife changed the spark plugs a few months ago, they’re good.” Or “oh I don’t know, I’d have to ask my wife she knows more about cars.” He says their reactions are priceless.
We've come a long way in our fight for gender equality. But there's still a lot of work to be done. Instead of huge displays of resistance to push feminist ideals, many women are engaging in small acts that, together, can make a big change. These little actions are known as micro-feminisms. And the idea has been trending recently.
Last year, a woman called Ashley Chaney went viral on TikTok after revealing that she always addresses the women first whenever she emails a team. Her video opened the floodgates for others to share their own ways of choosing to empower girls—while, no doubt, annoying some guys.
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not sure if that counts as micro but they are very shocked every time they immediately get interrupted back. Acting like they didn't just f*****g interrupt ME lmao.
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"Examples of microfeminism include directing questions toward the women in the room first, not yielding to men on sidewalks and instead expecting that they yield to you, or referring to CEOs as 'she' first," explains The Everygirl founder Emma Ginsberg.
Acts of micro-feminism are considered low risk because they're unlikely to cost people their jobs or create "major backlash" like big forceful shows of feminism might. "It's effective and gentle, and I hope it will encourage others to see bias," says Alice Rose, a gender and psychology researcher from the University of South Australia's Centre for Workplace Excellence.
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Rose believes it's important that these micro acts remain just that: micro. "Anything too big of a push back could attract negative attention [for an individual]—we don't want that," the expert told ABC News. "There needs to be changes at a systemic level, they need to be done by people in groups, so people can stay safe while these goals are being achieved."
An assistant professor at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, Danna Abraham, says she too has embraced micro-feminism as a form of defiance. One of the ways she does this is by hardly saying sorry. It might seem strange, but Abraham explains that one of the most noticeable manifestations of gender bias is how often women apologize, and a lot of the time, they don't need to.
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"Oh yeah, what did she say?".
"I’ve noticed a pattern among female colleagues and students: an inclination to apologize for things that don’t warrant an apology. In a study by Schumann and Ross (2010), the authors found that men apologize less frequently than women, even when confronted with similar offenses. This behavior highlights how societal norms and expectations can differ based on gender," she says. "Challenging these norms, even in small ways, can be a form of resistance."
Abraham suggests that before women start an email or a conversation by saying, “I’m sorry,” they ask themselves: Is an apology warranted?
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Abraham also makes a point of reclaiming her space in the world. "It’s said that one of the aims of patriarchy is to reduce women to nothingness," she explained. The expert says visual displays of patriarchy happen in broad daylight. All the time.
"In a crowded public space, I noted who gave the right of way when women and men approached each other. My findings were unsurprising: 99% of women moved out of the way to give men the right of way," said Abraham. "Since then, I’ve committed to never moving out of my way when walking in public spaces. Of course, I’m still courteous to people, but I refuse to let others claim my space."
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* Firmly asserting my space on airplanes when a rando next to me tries manspreading.
* Continuing to speak when a man tries interrupting me — I act as if I can’t even hear him — and taking my time to finish what I was saying.
* Always addressing envelopes with the woman’s name first when sending cards, etc.
* When at gatherings such as holiday parties, I don’t drift off to the kitchen or go into automatic service mode for the men.
Experts argue that deploying acts of micro-feminism can actually help you—and others—at work. Professor emerita at RMIT's College of Business and Law, Sara Charlesworth, says one way to do this is by recognizing there are women in a room and making sure they feel heard.
Using micro-feminism to draw attention to inequality or sexism in the workplace can also help highlight the issues for those who may not be aware, she adds.
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I think this does 2 things:
- have them think about the subject of the joke itself
- shakes their confidence. And probably they start thinking more before they speak.
#18
I am 'Ms' irrespective of my marital status and have been since my late teens.
Meanwhile, Rose says that engaging in acts of micro-feminism is an opportunity to meet the three basic psychological needs of Self-Determination Theory: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
"Acts of micro-feminism are a chance to exercise autonomy, build up confidence to be assertive and call things out, which leads to self-efficacy, and when you're supporting others in the workplace by speaking up on behalf of each other, that increases relatedness," the expert explains.
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