Although TikTok has birthed some of the most cursed trends ever — such as the Stanley Cup craze and the resurgence of Kelly Osbourne‘s massive gaffe — it has given us some trends. Most recently, the platform has become a place where women share how they fight sexism in the workplace through microfeminism.
For folks who are not familiar with the term “microfeminism”, it can be identified as daily actions or small interactions that promote gender equality. Some people *cough* TikToker Katie Wood *cough* have also labelled it as little acts that piss men off.
The term quickly took off on TikTok, with women across the world from different walks of life sharing how they participate in microfeminism to fight the workplace patriarchy.
As of writing, microfeminism has garnered more than 67 million posts on the platform.
So, if you’re itching to champion change in the workplace, we’ve wrangled up 10 different ways you can participate in microfeminism shared by content creators across the globe.
10. Microfeminism through emails
Ashley Chaney (@iamashleychaney) went hyper-viral by sharing how she participates in microfeminism in the corporate world through email.
In her video, which has garnered more than 2.8 million views, Ashley revealed that her “favourite form of microfeminism” is entering the assistant’s email (if they’re a woman) before the CEO’s.
She also revealed that she would always address women first within an email before naming their male co-workers.
“If I am emailing a team, I will always address the women first,” Ashley said.
9. Microfeminism as an attorney
Katie Wood (@katiewood_____) shared a bucket load of ways she practices microfeminism as an attorney which can also be used in other workplaces!
“Top of the list, if someone says they have to talk to the board or ‘I have to talk to the chairperson of the board’ or ‘if I have to talk to this CEO, CFO,’ or whatever, I always say ‘let me know what she says’. My default is she or her instead of he or him,” Katie shared in her video which has garnered more than 2.8 million views.
She also went on to say that she uses “Ms.” instead of “Miss” or “Mrs” and says the woman’s name first before the man’s.
8. Microfeminism while writing letters and holding the door open for the men
Emma (@ems.workingmum) stitched Katie Wood’s original TikTok, revealing that she will always refer to the woman first before their male counterpart when writing letters.
The content creator also shared that she will always open the door for the men.
“My other favourite thing is if you’re in a group of female and male people — I will always make sure I hold the door open and gesture to the men first,” Emma shared.
“Again, traditionally, it would be the man that would hold the door open for the women and we don’t need to do that. We can open our own doors.
“That said, [it’s] still very polite whether you’re male or female, if you wanna hold the door open for me, super polite. I’m gonna say thank you but it doesn’t need to be, by default, the man.”
7. Microfeminism as a Black woman
N’Dea (@bmekween) copped more than 129.8K views on TikTok after sharing all the microfeminist actions she implemented in her former workplace as a Black engineer.
“Anytime I had a presentation with a diagram of a schematic of a woman, I would immediately change her skin tone to brown,” N’Dea began. “And if that presentation had to go through approval and someone changed it, I would change it back because they would test me.”
N’Dea also shared that if she was doing a presentation where she mentions work from another Black Woman, she would share a photo of them within the necessary slides.
To further champion Black women in her field, she also said that she called other Black Women by their professional names if they were in a public setting.
6. Microfeminism through compliments
Mahi (@justonegursha) began her video by stating that she believes real activism stems from “daily moments in our lives”. She then went on to reveal three ways she practices microfeminism.
The first one was that she doesn’t make body-specific compliments to other women.
“I grew up in a family with a lot of men and this is something I’ve actually learned that men do a lot,” Mahi began.
“When [men] see somebody who has made an improvement to their health, their compliments are like ‘you look great bro’ like ‘you look really strong’. So, I thought of giving compliments to women in a similar to women and saying ‘you’re really glowing.’
“Even if they happened to lose a lot of weight, but I’m not affirming that the weight loss is the thing that made them beautiful.”
Mahi also added that she also addresses the woman first in an email before the man, and that she will always assume that a woman is single by choice and not ask them about their relationship status.
5. Microfeminism in meetings
Cherie (@cherie.brooke) shared that one of her favourite ways of microfeminism in the workplace is by uplifting the voices and opinions of women who’ve had their moments interrupted by their male co-workers.
“Another way you can practice microfeminism in the workplace is when women are interrupted bringing them back into the conversation,” Cherie shared.
Cherie also added that spotlighting women’s voices during meetings is a massive way to champion microfeminism in the workplace.
“It’s really not that hard,” Cherie said.
4. Microfeminism in schools
Coach Locke (@Coachlocke) shared a ‘yuuuuge way people can practice microfeminism in the classroom. As a physical education teacher, Locke shared that she always makes it a point to send “strong girls” when another teacher asks for help.
“Whenever comes to ask me if they can borrow big strong boys to do something helpful around the school, I have always made it a point to send them some strong girls,” the teacher said.
“Usually the job is really fun. Everybody wants to do it and we all know that girls are just as capable of doing any job a boy can do.”
As someone who would always heard “I need two strong boys to carry the church chairs” in high school, I truly appreciate Coach Locke’s microfeminism!
3. Microfeminism in hospitality
Aubrey Leigh (@mustloveaubz) revealed that she copped backlash from a male employee after she revealed she would always serve female customers first as a form of microfeminism.
“When I worked at a brewery, I would see a male and female come up to order and regardless of who said the beer first I am pouring hers first,” Aubrey shared.
When she shared the story with the male co-worker, she said that he got angry with her and that she was “degrading and putting down the entire male race”.
Over beer? How wild but not surprised.
2. Microfeminism at family functions
Although this one isn’t specifically a workplace microfeminist action, it’s definitely one that I need to implement IRL immediately!
Elizabeth Pearson (@coachelizabethpearson) shared that when she has a family dinner she purposely does not jump up to get the dishes.
“This might not seem like a big deal but growing up in the Midwest I saw women not only cook the meals but then jump up to clear everybody’s plates and the men’s as if they were waitresses always really annoyed me,” Elizabeth said.
1. Microfeminism while walking
Teacher Jen (@strategicclassroom) shared that her favourite form of microfeminism is not moving out of the way when men are walking on the wrong side of the path in large groups.
Or as someone labelled it in the comment section: “Man Chicken.”
“[Men] will just expect you to move out of the way,” Jen shared.
“And so the microfeminist thing to do is just stay in your lane and let them run into you. And don’t apologise because they’re not following the rules of the sidewalk.”
As I mentioned before, TikTok has birthed some of the most cooked social media trends ever. But this one has left me feeling empowered and excited.
Now, excuse me as I go play man chicken.
