The compulsion to please others is inherently female. Say what you like about the evolution of gender roles and power dynamics between men and women in the modern age – everywhere you look, people-pleasing does not bear the same weight across genders.
Thanks to a combination of factors – social conditioning, emotional vigilance, and straightforward sexism – women have a propensity to bend to the will of others much more than men, often putting their own needs to one side to prioritise (and please) others. This can mean saying “yes” when we mean “no”, taking on additional responsibilities we don’t have the time or energy for, and never making time to do something just for ourselves, seeing it as self-indulgent and wasteful.
