How do you handle being the only woman in meetings where men interrupt and talk over you constantly?
July 14, 2025
How do you handle being talked over or interrupted in professional settings?
20 comments
[removed]
I just don’t stop saying what I’m saying. I keep right on going. I don’t raise my voice. I don’t make a face. I just very calmly keep saying my thing. And if I run out of words before fuckface stops interrupting, I just repeat myself in a slightly different way.
Eventually they get the message and it’s SUPER EMBARRASSING for them. Deeply satisfying.
Assert dominance by literally instructing them on how this meeting is going to go. I’ve had to say “when I’m done presenting, I can allow an allotted time for you to respond”. Let’s just say they don’t interrupt me anymore.
I say in a stern tone of voice, “Can I finish my sentence please”? Guys are usually taken aback and shut up.
[removed]
This makes me bonkers. It’s disrespectful. I say don’t stop talking. They’ll get the hint pretty quick.
I often face the interruptor, hold up my hand (indicating stop please) and keep on talking, without raising my voice. I make sure to summarize what I was saying with key messages, then say, “yes?” Most of the time I covered what they were trying to interrupt me to ask
Anybody who interrupts me while I’m talking, particularly in a work setting, gets called out on it immediately. How polite I am about it depends on the person but it’s not something that I just let slide.
I keep talking but louder and if anyone says anything I go “I was finishing the thought I’d already started!” in the most cheerful tone I can muster
You have to call them out as it happens. And I know that’s not always easy especially if it’s someone higher up on the ladder.
But it works. And the reason it works is they are 100% not expecting you to. So when you do it shuts them right the hell up. At least that’s been my experience.
I get loud. It’s extra hard cause I’m the only one remote while they’re all in the conference room together lol. Most guys in my experience aren’t trying to be dicks, so if you get loud and say, “please let me finish,” or, “I have something to add,” they will usually listen. It totally depends on the group though.
Well, working in HR, this is half the disciplinary meetings I’m in. In these, my response is to stop, look at them fixedly. When they finish, I look a few seconds longer and then make a note. I then ask if this is how they typically communicate
This usually prompts a verbal retreat, maybe even an apology, because they want me to think they are the reasonable one.
If the other side jumps on that to throw a dig, then I turn to them and react to the trick. This time, asking as that’s something they feel comfortable doing in front of me in a formal meeting, is ig fair to say this is normal behaviour for them to do?
I am there to protect the company, not the employee, not the manager. Being rude to me in a formal setting is absolutely the kind of thing that goes up the chain because we know you are worse under looser circumstances.
In terms of less combativy charged meetings… im pretty comfortable with confrontation, so I just call them out and usually say something like:
“[Name of interrupter] is it okay with you if we listen to what we are meeting to discuss, not you?”
I will push for an actual answer, too. Silence or a mumble won’t cut it. Something like “sorry you were so eager to speak a moment ago, can you confirm that’s alright by you please?”
It’s blunt, but most people put on the spot will fold. If they try to argue instead, I’m game. I keep calm and explain why conversations are more productive when we speak in turn. If they need lessons, I keep standard office hours they can drop by and see me after the meeting, and we can arrange it with [their superior].
In the spirit of honesty, there are 3 guys that are, for lack of a better word, just complete bastards. There’s no controlling them, I might as well be trying to muzzle a grizzly bear. Luckily, part of what makes them annoying to deal with i that they are well above me in the corporate ladder and aren’t normally my problem. If they are involved, it’s usually my boss or even her boss that will be involved.
“No, don’t worry, I wasn’t talking or anything, you go ahead.” Does a good job of calling attention to the behaviour, usually embarrasses them enough for them to squeak out an apology and go silent for a while.
I match the energy. And I call them on it “you are interrupting and being rude. When it’s your turn to talk I don’t interrupt. I expect the same courtesy”. “I wasn’t don’t speaking” “I need you to be a professional and wait your turn” you know things like that. At first I will be call rude, aggressive, told it’s unlady like and makes me look unprofessional as a woman. Then I read them the riot act. The more I call them on it the faster they seem to accept it. And I’ve done this at work and with friends. Eventually they stop trying to talk over me. I will not be made invisible so their egos won’t be hurt. If we are doing the same job then the likelihood that they know more than me about a job I’ve been doing longer than them is unlikely.
I tell them I was still talking and ask them to please let me finish. I’m assertive.
I started talking over them lol
I’m finding a new job to start with a fresh slate. These people don’t respect me or my expertise… Most of the time they don’t even acknowledge me. I’m leaving. For now I don’t bother doing anything.
I assert myself. And if I am cut off, I firmly say, I was speaking
I don’t let them talk over me and I have a loud voice.
I usually ask if I can finish what I was saying point blank. But I’m not sure if that’s the best way.
20 comments
[removed]
I just don’t stop saying what I’m saying. I keep right on going. I don’t raise my voice. I don’t make a face. I just very calmly keep saying my thing. And if I run out of words before fuckface stops interrupting, I just repeat myself in a slightly different way.
Eventually they get the message and it’s SUPER EMBARRASSING for them. Deeply satisfying.
Assert dominance by literally instructing them on how this meeting is going to go. I’ve had to say “when I’m done presenting, I can allow an allotted time for you to respond”. Let’s just say they don’t interrupt me anymore.
I say in a stern tone of voice, “Can I finish my sentence please”? Guys are usually taken aback and shut up.
[removed]
This makes me bonkers. It’s disrespectful. I say don’t stop talking. They’ll get the hint pretty quick.
I often face the interruptor, hold up my hand (indicating stop please) and keep on talking, without raising my voice. I make sure to summarize what I was saying with key messages, then say, “yes?” Most of the time I covered what they were trying to interrupt me to ask
Anybody who interrupts me while I’m talking, particularly in a work setting, gets called out on it immediately. How polite I am about it depends on the person but it’s not something that I just let slide.
I keep talking but louder and if anyone says anything I go “I was finishing the thought I’d already started!” in the most cheerful tone I can muster
You have to call them out as it happens. And I know that’s not always easy especially if it’s someone higher up on the ladder.
But it works. And the reason it works is they are 100% not expecting you to. So when you do it shuts them right the hell up. At least that’s been my experience.
I get loud. It’s extra hard cause I’m the only one remote while they’re all in the conference room together lol. Most guys in my experience aren’t trying to be dicks, so if you get loud and say, “please let me finish,” or, “I have something to add,” they will usually listen. It totally depends on the group though.
Well, working in HR, this is half the disciplinary meetings I’m in. In these, my response is to stop, look at them fixedly. When they finish, I look a few seconds longer and then make a note. I then ask if this is how they typically communicate
This usually prompts a verbal retreat, maybe even an apology, because they want me to think they are the reasonable one.
If the other side jumps on that to throw a dig, then I turn to them and react to the trick. This time, asking as that’s something they feel comfortable doing in front of me in a formal meeting, is ig fair to say this is normal behaviour for them to do?
I am there to protect the company, not the employee, not the manager. Being rude to me in a formal setting is absolutely the kind of thing that goes up the chain because we know you are worse under looser circumstances.
In terms of less combativy charged meetings… im pretty comfortable with confrontation, so I just call them out and usually say something like:
“[Name of interrupter] is it okay with you if we listen to what we are meeting to discuss, not you?”
I will push for an actual answer, too. Silence or a mumble won’t cut it. Something like “sorry you were so eager to speak a moment ago, can you confirm that’s alright by you please?”
It’s blunt, but most people put on the spot will fold. If they try to argue instead, I’m game. I keep calm and explain why conversations are more productive when we speak in turn. If they need lessons, I keep standard office hours they can drop by and see me after the meeting, and we can arrange it with [their superior].
In the spirit of honesty, there are 3 guys that are, for lack of a better word, just complete bastards. There’s no controlling them, I might as well be trying to muzzle a grizzly bear. Luckily, part of what makes them annoying to deal with i that they are well above me in the corporate ladder and aren’t normally my problem. If they are involved, it’s usually my boss or even her boss that will be involved.
“No, don’t worry, I wasn’t talking or anything, you go ahead.” Does a good job of calling attention to the behaviour, usually embarrasses them enough for them to squeak out an apology and go silent for a while.
I match the energy. And I call them on it “you are interrupting and being rude. When it’s your turn to talk I don’t interrupt. I expect the same courtesy”. “I wasn’t don’t speaking” “I need you to be a professional and wait your turn” you know things like that. At first I will be call rude, aggressive, told it’s unlady like and makes me look unprofessional as a woman. Then I read them the riot act. The more I call them on it the faster they seem to accept it. And I’ve done this at work and with friends. Eventually they stop trying to talk over me. I will not be made invisible so their egos won’t be hurt. If we are doing the same job then the likelihood that they know more than me about a job I’ve been doing longer than them is unlikely.
I tell them I was still talking and ask them to please let me finish. I’m assertive.
I started talking over them lol
I’m finding a new job to start with a fresh slate. These people don’t respect me or my expertise… Most of the time they don’t even acknowledge me. I’m leaving. For now I don’t bother doing anything.
I assert myself. And if I am cut off, I firmly say, I was speaking
I don’t let them talk over me and I have a loud voice.
I usually ask if I can finish what I was saying point blank. But I’m not sure if that’s the best way.