Mark Zuckerberg is right – what the world needs is more ‘masculine energy’
In a world where violence against women and girls is rife and the gender pay gap is still very much a thing, writes Emma Clarke – why not add more toxic masculinity to the mix?
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Your support makes all the difference.You know what? Throughout my career, one of the things that has struck me the most is the lack of masculine energy.
Looking past the sea of ugly ergonomic chairs, how often the women’s toilets are situated on an entirely different floor and the fact that the majority of senior managers have been men… also forgetting the time I was actually shushed by a male colleague while presenting my strategy to a room full of other male colleagues – oh, and when one male boss decided to put a wager on with my male colleagues to see who could bed me first (spoiler: none)… the places I’ve worked, particularly when I was starting out, positively reeked of femininity.
Proposals to improve maternity and paternity leave? Requests to provide mental health services to workers? Sanitiser on the desks during Covid? Not making inappropriate jokes about colleagues’ attire, sex life and/or physical appearance? Getting work done to a high standard without reducing colleagues to tears and burnout? Who could thrive in such an environment…
I am, of course, being sarcastic. But according to Mark Zuckerberg, masculine energy is exactly what’s missing from the corporate world – this coming from the man who invented Facebook purely to rate female university students and check their relationship status. He is also, lest we forget, the guy who hunts “invasive pigs” in Hawaii – and is partial to mixed martial arts (MMA).
That’s right – on Joe Rogan’s podcast this weekend (because where else would he have made these claims?), the Meta CEO stated the corporate world is “pretty culturally neutered.” “I think having a culture that celebrates aggression a bit more has its own merits that are really positive,” he said.
Now, to his credit, he did point out that “society has plenty of that” – “that” being masculine energy. He’s right in that sense – but it’s far too flippant.
After all, not only has UN Women declared violence against women and girls a national emergency, but the recent killings of Miss Switzerland finalist Kristina Joksimovic and Olympic long-distance runner Rebecca Cheptegei – among many, many others – serve as constant reminders of how women’s safety is at risk. So, too, does the recent rape conviction of Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband Dominique, and the 51 others who sexually abused her while she was unconscious.
Yet Zuckerberg’s main gripe is with how corporate culture is “really trying to get away from it” – “it” being masculine “aggression”. “It’s one thing to say we want to be kind of, like, welcoming and make a good environment for everyone,” he commented, “and I think it’s another to basically say that ‘masculinity is bad.’”
Which begs the question: has he ever stepped foot inside a corporate office?
Given that just ten FTSE 100 CEOs are women, that there are more CEOs called Simon or Andrew than female CEOs and men have held roughly 90 per cent of CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies for over a decade, the reality for the everyday worker couldn’t be more different.
Equal Pay Day is still very much a thing: in 2023, women in the UK were effectively working for free from 20 November. All the while, the cost of living, rent, bills – even tuition fees – are not any cheaper for women. We don’t get a discount because we’re on such shoddy comparative pay.
Then there’s the reality that most women in these environments are told to overlook the real and statistical gender discrimination and adopt more “masculine” perspectives – from the false economy of the “power suit”, being more “assertive” in the boardroom or, frankly, being Machiavellian and pulling the ladder up behind us when we get to the top. We are told that in order to succeed in a man’s world, we must emulate them. Statistically, this simply doesn’t work. Even the ONS’s latest report said the gender pay gap was closing in the UK “at a snail’s pace”.
Which brings me to ask: what even is “masculine energy”?
If we look to Zuckerberg as an example, it seems to mean wearing the same grey, $300 T-shirt every day to give the illusion of “productivity”. It’s sacking your fact-checking team in favour of “community notes”. It’s potentially doing the same with your diversity and inclusion team, through fear of upsetting the incoming US president – and sucking up to him at the very same time.
Is this really the direction corporations should be going in – abandoning any progress made by prioritising the male ego (again)? I tell you what would make a difference: some feminine energy around the place...
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