Imagine hundreds of years of the feminist movement, thousands of women coming together to urge for the equality they deserve, in hopes for a progressive future. Only for a privileged adult man whose career started with a project that rated women’s “attractiveness” to go on international media and claim that workspaces; especially tech workspaces need more “masculine energy”.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of one of the largest tech companies— Meta, recently went on Joe Rogan’s podcast to claim that corporate culture needs more “masculine energy” and referred to the current state of workspaces as “culturally neutered. At first glance, what might seem like his urging of more assertiveness or strategies holds much deeper meaning and weight coming from one of the biggest tech leaders, who holds an influence which can impact industries.
What exactly is wrong with this statement?
Even if we set aside the negative influence this statement could hold, it innocently undid all the progress and empowerment corporate spaces achieved for women. Ultimately, Zuckerberg said that corporate America has gone “too far” in embracing “feminine energy” and has become “culturally neutered”—and that companies have lacked “masculine energy.”
Terms like “culturally neutered” reinforce patriarchal ‘norms’, his idea of masculine energy suggests more aggression, as if all these years corporate America has not already been a male-dominated industry.
For him to go ahead in front of the world and express such dated patriarchal terms when workspaces are already not in their best state in terms of inclusivity, just reveals how out-of-touch and blinded one can be of the influence they hold.
More Problematic changes from Meta.
There are more controversial changes that came to the surface after the public release of his problematic statements. The podcast episode aired just days after Meta announced several major changes to its policies:
- Loosening moderation rules: Meta will now allow more leniency for posts criticising immigrants, transgender people, and non-binary individuals. The company has also removed restrictions on some forms of exclusionary language based on gender or sex.
- Ending fact-checking: Meta has stopped using third-party fact-checking services in the United States.
- Scaling back diversity efforts: Internal training and hiring programmes aimed at improving diversity within Meta have been significantly reduced.
These changes have been met with criticism, with some arguing they will lead to increased hate speech and create a less inclusive environment for users and employees alike.
Pre-existing Gender and Inclusivity gap in Tech / STEM industries:
Ada Lovelace was the mother of programming and set the path for what shapes the world today. Sadly, corporations, especially tech workspaces still hold huge gender gaps. In 2024, women hold only 26.7% of all tech-related roles, with a decrease in representation by 2.1% over the last few years, despite women making up 47.7% of the workforce. The disparity in representation only widens further up the ladder, with only 10.9% of CEO and senior leadership roles being held by women.
Even in 2025, companies still hold patriarchal beliefs and there are wage gaps, fewer promotions and discrimination against women.
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, women in tech earn approximately 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. For instance a report, on a job marketplace for tech workers, highlighted that the pay gap widens at higher levels of seniority. Entry-level female tech workers earn about 91 cents for every dollar their male peers make. However, for senior positions, this drops to 78 cents.
How does his statement correlate with the future of tech?
Mark’s statement, along with Trump’s Presidency in the US does not only give us the harsh ground reality of how inclusive and empathetic the country is towards women and feminism. CEOs like him coming out to make such patriarchal claims goes on to show the disappointing state of the world towards women, where each day, each breath feels like a fight, a revolution for change and an urge to be seen, to be treated as an equal and not be looked down upon. Every passing day feels like women simply urging to be treated like humans and to be given equal rights. It is 2025, is this still too much to ask for? The real question is how many more waves of feminism will take for us to get the life and rights we deserve, and how many CEOs and Trump Bros will it take to undo our progress each time we see even a little glimmer of hope?
A society- once established is meant for evolution for its betterment and to adapt and progress for a better future for all its members. Our society is on its road to devolution with such blatant acts of ignorance towards gender and mistreatment which enforce patriarchal norms.
The corporate world should always be about innovation, leadership and empathy rather than being “masculine” or “feminine”, a good workspace is one where everyone feels welcome to express themselves freely and is treated with equality and empathy.
The future of tech and the society seems doomed if views like these continue.
For more such articles, Visit my Author Profile and visit HerCampus@MUJ.