How To Address Toxic Masculinity in the Workplace

Toxic masculinity in the workplace directly impacts workplace culture, creating unsafe, non-inclusive environments for all employees. To address this problem, you first need to understand how it shows up in the workplace, from a “tough guy” attitude to a need to get ahead. Addressing toxic masculinity and behaviors in the workplace requires the effort of both employees and employers, as they work hand-in-hand to interrupt bias and set clear expectations of workplace behavior.

By Mariah Flores

Toxic masculinity is a term that has been around for forever.

And it’s directly impacting workplace culture — undermining any DEI efforts and creating a hostile, unsafe work environment. 

“Toxic masculinity can describe the limiting and often dangerous standards we as a society have set particularly for men. It can chip away at your organization’s culture, negatively impacting all of your employees. If it’s left unchecked, it can cause significant damage,” shares Mita Mallick, Head of Inclusion, Equity and Impact at Carta, 2020 LinkedIn Top Voice and co-host of Brown Table Talk. 

As a concept, toxic masculinity manifests itself into different forms, such as catcalling, ultra-competitiveness or bullying, creating negative cultures and situations, including in the workplace. Masculinity alone is not toxic, but becomes so, SHRM says, “when men feel a need to conform to rigid gender norms.”

The harm caused by a culture of toxic masculinity affects everyone, including men. 

It can no longer be left unchecked and unaddressed. I spoke with two workplace experts to learn more about how we all can do a better job at addressing toxic masculinity and related behaviors in the workplace.

How Toxic Masculinity Shows up in the Workplace

Defining “Toxic Masculinity”

Foremost, I want to take the time to acknowledge that masculinity alone is not toxic and addressing toxicity doesn’t start with blaming men — it’s a societal problem that some men perpetuate. 

“Toxic masculinity can be particularly damaging to men as well. The gendered stereotypes we are exposed to start at a young age and can stay with us; men are supposed to be the primary financial provider, they are supposed to be strong, in charge, in control, and show no emotion,” says Mallick.  “This can create a lot of pressure for men to meet unattainable standards.”

The problem of toxic masculinity affects us all, but sees certain underrepresented groups bearing the brunt of the microaggressions and overly dominant behaviors, notes SHRM.

Ed Frauenheim, co-author of Reinventing Masculinity and co-founder of the Teal Team, argues that there isn’t actually toxic masculinity, but rather toxic behaviors that can come out of an expected, traditional masculinity ideology. 

“I would argue that there isn't toxic masculinity. I would say that there are toxic behaviors that come out of a masculinity that most men, at least my age, especially in the forties, fifties, sixties, grew up with,” he says. “I think it's changing, but I think that the term ‘toxic masculinity’ is actually one that can get us in trouble, because it tends to shame men, and paint men in overly broad brushes.” 

And in a way, he’s right.

The New York Times reports that researcher have defined “toxic masculinity” as a set of behaviors and beliefs that include the following: 

• Suppressing emotions or masking distress
• Maintaining an appearance of hardness
• Violence as an indicator of power (think: “tough-guy” behavior)

“In other words: Toxic masculinity is what can come of teaching boys that they can’t express emotion openly; that they have to be ‘tough all the time’; that anything other than that makes them ‘feminine’ or weak. (No, it doesn’t mean that all men are inherently toxic.),” the publication adds.

A Need To Get Ahead

You can’t address a problem if you can’t identify it. That said, you can’t address a culture of toxic masculinity, which is also known as “masculinity contest culture,” if you’re unaware of how it may manifest at work. 

It can be easy to miss toxic masculinity, especially given that it’s not always overt within the workplace and has many complexities. 

You can think of toxic masculinity (within the workplace) as a need to get ahead. 

SHRM states that toxic masculinity involves ultra-competitiveness, a dog-eat-dog mentality and ultimately supports “a patriarchal system designed to keep men on top.” Outspoken women are aggressive, while outspoken men are assertive, as their behavior is designed to "get ahead at all costs."

You’ve probably seen such behaviors or attitudes play out at work without even realizing just how toxic they are. Frauenheim shares a few ways toxic masculinity can manifest in the workplace, such as: 

• Men feeling that they’re better than others: “This is something that we've been raised with, and I call it confined masculinity, which has some pretty narrow ways that we're supposed to show up. And one of those is to be hyper-competitive and dominating.”
• Excess amounts of competition (again, “dog eat dog”) such that people aren’t creating psychological safety for others: “Leaders are all about pitting team members against one another. And you end up with a workplace that doesn't feel safe for people to be themselves and to share ideas. You create a poisonous atmosphere when people can't feel like they can live up to their full potential because it's too much of a combat zone.”
• Sense of entitlement to harass others, including sexual harassment: “That's a very poisonous behavior that can stem from these confined views of masculinity.”

Other behaviors and attitudes to be aware of, per SHRM, include men talking over women and inflexible attitudes. Such behaviors only keep toxic masculinity alive in the workplace and need to be addressed. 

Addressing Toxic Masculinity

The first step to addressing toxic masculinity is reevaluating the workplace. Take a deep look into your workplace culture, peeling back the layers and seeing what behaviors are praised, rewarded and expected.

“In a system that rains accolades on very specific things — say, the person who stayed the latest versus the person who submitted the best work — people learn to value what wins them acclaim,” writes CNN. 

And this can be for employers and employees.

As an employee, you may be unaware of your biases regarding what’s expected from and of men. Ask yourself: “What does masculinity look like for me? For others? Are my expectations fair or biased?” 

For organizations, Frauenheim recommends being very clear about what is and isn’t acceptable at work. The employee handbook is a great place to state clearly, “Hey everyone, here’s what’s ok and what’s not ok.” Don’t leave room for confusion, providing all employees with clear workplace expectations (including behavior). 

“I think it's more helpful to focus in on behaviors that are unhealthy, that are poisonous, or hurt others, whether that's abusiveness, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other kinds of ways in which men often can be acting in ways that are … not helpful, and hurtful at work,” states Frauenheim.

Another way to combat toxic masculinity and behaviors? Give your employees the space to speak out and report any incidents of toxic masculinity or behavior. 

SHRM advises all leaders at every level to gather stories from their teams to see if toxic masculinity is a problem that exists in their workplaces. Surveys are often undervalued, but are a surprisingly effective way to unroot hostile, toxic culture, even at major companies. 

All in all, addressing and combating toxic masculinity requires a joint effort, which may lead to a necessary overhaul of organizational (and sometimes personal) practices, expectations or leadership.

“Fighting against toxic masculinity in our workplaces includes interrupting our bias when it comes to labeling men for example as assertive and women as aggressive. It also means watching out for non-inclusive leadership behaviors, including interrupting or shutting people down,” states Mallick. 

“And finally, we need to focus on policies in the workplace that benefit all employees, including parental leave for all parents.”

Top Takeaways 

Toxic masculinity has the potential to ruin workplace cultures and need to be addressed.

• Toxic masculinity is a term or concept that describes the limiting and harmful standards society places on men, usually from a very young age.
• While it’s easy to blame men for this problem, we shouldn’t, though it’s ok to acknowledge that underrepresented employees are going to bear the brunt of the harm. 
• Toxic masculinity in the workplace shows up in many forms, from men talking over women to making colleagues feel that they’re better than others.
• Addressing this issue requires both employees and employers to acknowledge and address their own biases and expectations.