What does Hepeating mean?
Hepeating (He-peating) is a phenomenon that many professional women have experienced before. It’s what happens when a woman suggests and idea in a meeting that is ignored, only to have a man suggest the same thing and everyone loves the idea. Essentially, hepeating is when a man repeats a woman’s comments or ideas and gets praised for it instead of her. Some women have even reported that this happens to them every day in their workplace and in their social lives. Hepeating is not always done maliciously, it may be the case that a man believes he is helping a woman to have her voice heard by repeating the idea. But the issue arises when he takes credit for this idea as his own.
Hepeating joins an expanding list of many other terms to describe sexist male behaviour like ‘mansplaining’ (when a man overexplains something to a woman in a condescending manner), ‘bropropriating’ (when a man takes credit for a woman’s idea) and ‘manterrupting’ (the unnecessary interrupting of women when they are speaking). Hepeating was first coined by friends of a US Physics professor and astronomer Nicole Gugliucci who shared the term on twitter in 2017.
Even if men are not aware they are repeating their female colleagues’ ideas, it may occur due to unconscious gender bias according to a Harvard public policy professor Irish Bohnet. She believes that hepeating is a kind of subtle microaggression (typically an unconscious, prejudices action or comment against another group or individual).
How do you respond to Hepeating?
According to Bohnet, both men and women can have bias against other women in the workplace. We often associate expertise and authority with men and therefore are more likely to listen to men compared to women. These stereotypes are regularly reinforced in many aspects of life.
To deal with ‘Hepeating’, Bohnet suggests enlisting the help of a few co-workers to advocate for women when they have experienced hepeating. This advocacy is what Bohnet terms ‘micro-sponsorship’. An article by the Washington post has revealed that women are also using a strategy called ‘amplification’ whereby women’s key points are listened to and then repeated in meetings so that credit is given to whoever came up with an idea. This way, others in the room are encouraged and reminded to remember contributions and who made them.
Another solution to hepeating and to make sure that women are heard and listened to the first time around is to increase the number of women that are in the room in the first place. This will ensure there is enough people to back each other up. If they are in a meeting, women could also casually remind the room where the idea originated and to confront their ‘hepeater’ in case he thinks he is doing you a favour by repeating your ideas. This is easier said than done, but even using one of these suggestions may help to combat hepeating in the workplace.
Conclusion
Hepeating occurs when a man repeats a woman’s comments or ideas and gets praised for it instead of her. It is not always done maliciously; it may be the case that a man believes he is helping a woman to have her voice heard by repeating the idea. But the issue arises when he takes credit for this idea as his own. There are some strategies as outlined above that women can use to combat this happening regularly. However, everyone in the workplace needs to work together so that women are heard the first time around and credit is given where it’s due.
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