Horror stories of a ‘feminised workplace’ mask the real crisis in male identity

Stereotypes that centre mens’ worth in their work are strangling sensible debate, and letting down women too • Finn Mackay is an academic and the author of Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars

Finn Mackay is an academic and the author of Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars

First it was mechanisation threatening our jobs, then AI and now this: the Great Feminisation is taking over the workplace. Well, that’s according to American journalist Helen Andrews, who popularised this thesis in a speech to the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC.

The idea is that too many women in the workplace, and in positions of power, has led to the dominance of stereotypical feminine values, to the detriment of everyone. Girly things like conflict resolution rather than manly plain s