Never underestimate the power of a man in a group of women

The topic of this post took almost an hour of my free time (I won't get into it) yesterday, and before that 3 hours of other people's free time, because a man decided to speak, and expected everyone to listen. <br><br>First, let me set this clear: This was a zoom meeting with a bunch of women of different ages, and ONE man. Everyone agreed to the topic of that meeting, and the outcome was to have a document, written and edited by the women present, because we have already seen how men literally can't last those 15 minutes. They have to have the final word in everything, and if they don't, they just go home and write a 3 page letter of apology and complaints that their voice was not heard (also true story). <br><br>The topic of the meeting was very light, and it was stated that we all agreed on the initial statement. <br><br>The zoom meeting went well, topics were discussed, everyone was talking, the chat was active. I think everybody was happy that the meeting went so well. <br><br>Then, we all decide to jump to the next topic. <br><br>And then, the MAN decides to speak up. <br><br>He has a "different opinion" on something that was already discussed in the private group chat. <br><br>And then, the topic that WE ALL AGREED ON goes completely out the window, because we have to hear what this man has to say. Nobody in that room liked his opinion, and everybody told him that. <br><br>But, since he, a man, said it, we HAD to discuss it. Why? We don't know. <br><br>He was not encouraged, he was literally told by everybody that this was not the right opinion, and that we all disagreed, but he still went on about it, and then tried to throw shade on somebody because they had an opinion that was not the same as his. <br><br>This man tried to make us doubt our own opinions. <br><br>And then, the meeting was over. The last topic had to be postponed because of this man's ego. <br><br>The meeting was supposed to be about us building something for THE WOMEN in our community, and we're going to have to postpone that, again, because this man needed to hear himself talk, and make his presence known. <br><br>And this is how every single meeting goes, with any topic, and in any group of people. <br><br>If you own a business, and you have 5 women and 1 man as employees, any time you want to discuss anything, those 5 women have to make space for that 1 man's opinion, which will rarely be an opinion and will mostly be a criticism of the women's ideas. <br><br>This happens is schools, in parliament, in your everyday lives. <br><br>You think you've made space for yourself? <br><br>Make some space for a man's ego as well. <br><br>PS: We are not going to bring up "what if the man had a good idea??". <br><br>If you are going to comment anything like that, you're part of the problem.