Women’s Empowerment Campaigns: Helpful or Harmful to the Workplace?

Abstract

Women’s empowerment campaigns create greater equality for women in numerous areas including social, political, economic, and occupational fields. However, the current #MeToo and Time’s Up movements have become increasingly hostile toward men. This hostility has developed an anti-male environment that may be perceived by men as unfair restrictions on their behavior and boundaries on their autonomy. This leads to adoption of behavior and attitudes opposite of the intended effects and that may do more harm than good. This response is explained as psychological reactance. The authors discuss its harmful impact in the workplace offer suggestions for mitigating these situations.