During the pandemic, childcare responsibilities have dominanty fallen to mothers. And I’ve noticed how often they say sorry and get anxious about their kids interupting them on a video conference. By comparison, when I was facilitating a session the other day, a male participant hand’t muted themselves whilst their printer went off next to them. I asked whoever was printing something to mute and he said “that’s home schooling for you.” No apology. Just the reason. How wonderful!
However, in terms of power dynamics, how often women say sorry (often for existing!) is undermining them. I’m definately feeling like a guilty feminist (as a man) by telling women to stop saying sorry. However, I hope I can redeem myself by instead giving room for the voice of an amazing women (Tara Mohr) who will explain much better than I can why women undermine themselves and how to stop it.
