Telling women to smile in the workplace is one of the most common microaggressions against female coworkers.
Almost all women – 98% – said they have been told to smile at least once in their lives. What’s more, 15% even said it happens weekly or “more often.”
Most of these comments are made in the workplace. Almost two in five (37%) women have recently been told to “smile more” at work, but a quarter said they have done so in public and a fifth (21%) at home.
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According to the study, requests for women to moderate their facial expressions or behavior at work typically come from male colleagues and are more often directed at women in higher positions.
Women reported that 53% of requests to smile more come from men. However, 41% of them reported receiving similar requests from their female colleagues.
Nearly two in five (37%) women have been asked to smile by a male boss. And while only a quarter of women said they had been asked by a female boss, those who did were most likely to feel undervalued in their job.
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Women say they find these requests humiliating, annoying and offensive.
One expert explained to Byte that a woman’s smile is a signal of both joy and submission, general agreeableness and a conscious absence of anger.
Although many studies suggest that sexism and prejudice in the workplace are transmitted unconsciously, they can have very real consequences for women in their professional lives.
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More than half of women have “toned down” digital communication with their colleagues. This was more common among women in higher positions.
Compared to 57% of women in entry-level or associate positions, 70% of women in managerial and leadership positions thought it was important to be liked at work.
Similarly, women in mid-level (60%) or senior positions (59%) are most likely to tone down their written communication to appear less aggressive or brusque.
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Women who are less inclined to smile are accused of having a “resting bitch face.” This is often used to describe a person who regularly appears unhappy or irritable despite being content or relaxed.
Over half (53%) of women reported having a “resting bitch face,” saying that their natural facial expression made them one-fifth less serious at work.
The Resting Bitch Face is also viewed as a negative trait by a majority of women: 69% of women who say they suffer from it believe they need to “soften” their behavior.
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A 31-year-old woman told Byte that being asked to smile was “extremely degrading” and showed that appearance was “valued more highly than the mental and emotional well-being of female staff.”
A 40-year-old woman said she felt “depressed, angry, misunderstood and alone” when she was asked to smile at work.
A 43-year-old woman believed that her smile had nothing to do with the quality of her work performance.
