Small acts of resistance known as "micro-feminism" can help women feel empowered at work.
Micro-feminism began trending on TikTok last year when a video from Ashley Chaney went viral.
She shared that whenever emailing a team, she will always addresses the women first.
Since then, creators have continued to share examples ranging from practical to tongue-in-cheek, including asking men to take the notes in meetings, and holding doors open for male colleagues and insisting they enter first.
Alice Rose is a gender and psychology researcher from the University of South Australia's Centre for Workplace Excellence and says although "maybe not highbrow", micro-feminism is a nod to systemic inequalities and a "small push back" against them.
"The broader feminist movement is about equality for all, so feeling like you can belong to that movement, that you are in some way doing something that makes the world either a better place, it's small, but improves things … I think that can be really powerful," she says.
Examples of micro-feminism at work
A great example of when micro-feminism can be used, explains Ms Rose, is when a male colleague presents a female colleague's idea as his own.
"The manager says, 'That's a great idea, James, I also liked it when Sarah said it three weeks ago.'"
Sara Charlesworth is a professor emerita at RMIT's College of Business and Law.
She says an obvious illustration of micro-feminism is recognising there are women in the room and making sure they feel heard.
For example, actively asking for their input in meetings.
Other examples include:
- Delegating volunteer tasks at work, such as organising farewell gifts, to male employees
- When a female colleague is interrupted, bring her back into the conversation
- Use "she" or "they" rather than the default "he" when the person in a position of power is not known
- Don't apologise in emails, and take out the word "just" and exclamation points
- If someone makes a joke that is considered sexist or offensive to a minority, say "I don't get it, can you explain, please?" or "I'm surprised you feel comfortable saying that out loud."
While the more humorous cases of micro-feminism might not land for everyone, Ms Rose says "we have to bring some humour because the reality of [gender inequality] will weigh us down".
Why micro-feminism in the workplace is useful
Engaging in acts of micro-feminism is an opportunity to meet the three basic psychological needs of Self-Determination Theory, explains Ms Rose.
Those are 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," Ms Rose says.
Using micro-feminism to draw attention to inequality or sexism in the workplace can help highlight the issues to those who may not be aware, says Professor Charlesworth.
"I often think of a former colleague who used to see all-male panels, and viewed it as his job to call that out by sending a quick email to the organisers saying, 'Have you thought about the optics?'
"That's all he would say, but it was a way to get them thinking."
She says for people who otherwise feel alienated in the workplace by everyday sexism, for example, it can be helpful to see other people are prepared to speak up.
"It's certainly not going to change the world, but it is of great comfort, and in my experience, particularly with sexual harassment [research], it's empowering for women to know the problem is not them."
Ms Rose encourages people to think about micro-feminism with "not just a gendered lens", but also in intersectional ways.
"There are multiple aspects of a person's identity that bring with it privilege or marginalisation.
"If we take an exclusively gendered lens, we might harm people of colour or people with disabilities or people of different faiths."
She says men should feel encouraged to participate in acts of micro-feminism, too.
"We can all work to build equality."
Limitations of micro-feminism
Acts of micro-feminism are considered low risk, says Ms Rose, because they're unlikely to cost people their jobs or create "major backlash".
"It's effective and gentle, and I hope it will encourage others to see bias."
She says it's important that these micro acts remain micro.
"Anything too big of a push back could attract negative attention [for an individual] — we don't want that.
"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."
If organisations aren't committed to gender equality, she says it can be really hard to make change.
Professor Charlesworth agrees that while micro-feminism can help people feel seen and empowered, more needs to be done.
"In the longer term, you're going to want some of those acts of resistance to become more structural or systemic."
