Man in meeting ignoring women

[sunshinepoppy]

I am a relatively new secondary school governor. I have attended a few meetings and during each meeting the (male) chair behaves as if he has not heard what any woman has said and then repeats what the woman has said as his own idea. The Headteacher is a woman and he did this to her several times.

e.g.
Sunshinepoppy: What colour hats do we need?
Headteacher?: Historically we need blue hats because the school started on a boat.
Chair: What you have to understand is historically because the school started on a boat we need blue hats.

It is baffling behaviour and very obvious that he only does this to women. He wants to meet me for a debrief and a review of how I am finding the new role and what I think of the meetings. Should I mention this to him? I am not sure that he is aware that he does it.
Has anyone encountered this before?

YABU: Do NOT mention it
YANBU: Mention it

I’d be very direct “is there a reason that you just repeated what headteacher said?”
Happens all the time, I’ve come across a few school chairs of governors who would do similar/talk over/ignore women.

To answer some other questions - all school governors are volunteers. The Chair is just "first among equals" and does not have any additional authority or sway at a meeting. So their contribution is minuted in exactly the same way as everyone else's - which is often "a governor" rather than identifying anyone. This reflects the corporate nature of school governance.
Governors shouldn't be minuting. The schools should have a clerk to governors, ideally an independent person, who should have a good understanding of the requirements.
PlanDeRaccordement has given an example of a style of minuting that is excellent, but not appropriate for school governing boards.

Taking Minutes and emphasising that Teacher made the point/suggestion first, is a good idea in theory, but you would have to assume he reads them (unlikely).

I second speaking to the Headteacher in question if possible - perhaps don't make a massive thing of it, but mention it and tell her you plan to pull him up and she should to, and then repeatedly pull him up.

Every time.

You can use different phrases to make it less uncomfortable but the most powerful message would be to repeat the same phrase.

"Yes, that's a great suggestion HEADTEACHER. MAN PERSON, I'm taking your repetition as consensus".

Over and over.

I wouldn't mention it in a 1 - 1, but would just say something in the actual meetings. eg re blue hats, yep, get that, it's what the head just said.
And just to do that every time.

The Role of the Chairperson
In a more formal meeting, the chairperson will outline the purpose of the meeting and remind members why they are there.

In such a meeting there is little need to refer to this procedure as this is implicit in the established etiquette, namely:

The chair controls the meeting.
All remarks are addressed through the chair.
Members do not interrupt each other.
Members aim to reach a consensus.
A vote is taken if consensus is not reached.
The majority wins the vote.
All members accept the majority decision.
This is one model but alternative models may be adopted.

When discussion is underway, it is the chairperson's responsibility to ensure that it continues to flow smoothly by involving all members present and by not permitting one or two people to dominate the meeting. Summarising by the chairperson during meetings can:

Indicate progress, or lack of.
Refocus discussion that has wandered off the point.
Conclude one point and lead into the next.
Highlight important points.
Assist the secretary if necessary.
Clarify any misunderstanding.
The chairperson should pace the meeting, ensuring it runs to time. If the planning has been properly executed, this should not prove to be a problem.

At the end of a meeting, the chairperson should remind members what they have achieved and thank them for their contributions. Finally, the time and date of the next meeting should be arranged. Again this is one common model for effective meetings, successful outcomes can be achieved in different ways with different strategies for different purposes, so adapt as appropriate to specific situations.

I have bonded what the chair did in the meeting. It was procedure for a formal meeting NOT sexism.

If he asks for feedback then give it to him. That's the point of feedback. He might be doing it deliberately or he might not realise and will use it to develop and learn.
If he doesnt ask for feedback then its harder to bring it up. Xx

I would do exactly as beethebee suggests.

My FIL does this.... to everyone... how old is he?
I've noticed he's in his own little world at times and just doesn't bloody listen 😁

p.s. Op my advice on how this is recorded in minutes is sound. I'm an independent, self employed, Clerk to Governors with 15 years experience and accredited by the National Governance Association. I am also one of their trainers. I am also a Chair of Governors and a National Leader of Governance. Currently I'm clerk for 9 schools.
I don't think your meetings are being chaired effectively. Generally a full governing board meeting shouldn't take much more than 2 hours, none of mine do. I'd be inclined to get your feet under the table, before challenging too hard. But it sounds as if this board needs a new chair.

PlanDeRaccordement the OP states he only does this to women, not men. That is sexist.

I get the point about chair's role, but OP said he does not do the same with men's statements. Unless men never say anything worth noting, seems kinda odd..

"Yes chair, as headteachers just said, the hats were blue."

Littlecabbage
PlanDeRaccordement* the OP states he only does this to women, not men. That is sexist.

Then it is sexist against men because the example shows the chair listening to a woman’s input and then summarising it as the final answer for the board as a whole by only concurring on the input from women.

If he’s summarising With nothing the men say, he is ignoring the men.

If he does it again pipe in with "Oh - so it's exactly as Headteacher said. Blue hats because of historical associations with a boat." And then turn to the woman who spoke and say, "Thanks for making that clear - it was very helpful. I can see why we do that now."

And ignore any comments by the chair.

Do this EVERY TIME.

Governor meetings tend to be quite informal. The Chairs should make sure everyone isn't talking at once, gets to ask their questions etc and they keep reasonably to time. But there is no need for them to summarise answers to questions and they don't. We'd be there all bloody night if they did. Give governors a plate of sarnies and a cuppa and you're in for a long night... A good clerk will sometimes pause the meeting to summarise a discussion or action for the minutes to make sure they get it right.

Are these meetings minuted? Thus would make me wonder if the persin writing minutes attributes the original idea correctly and/or if the chair thinks he is being helpful in clarifying things for the minute taker .

I would say something like 'oh, you clearly agree with what X just said on this subject'
get other women on board and face him down between you

I agree with PlanDeRaccordement - be absolutely clear on how the meeting should be run before jumping in. i wouldn't mention anything in a 1-2-1. I don't think you'll get the result you're after.

Rainsummer yes they are minuted and I've explained what is required up thread.

Then the worst this volunteer governor has done by agreeing to be Chair is run his meetings more formally than usual. His professional experience chairing meetings may have been in a more formal environment. My experience is in government and we are still very formal.

Hit send too soon... in school governance it doesn't matter which governor had an idea or asked a question. It's irrelevant.

My Mum’s partner does this and it drives me round the bend!

I would let him speak and then once he has finished say “thank you Mrs green” or whoever the woman who answered originally is.

Reminds me of this cartoon from Punch.

PlanDeRaccordement I think you're probably right. And some of the "older" chairs can be very formal. It does seem to be wasting a lot of time, and if he really is patronising women, particularly the Headteacher, he's completely out of order.
He's probably been Chair for years, which is something that's not recommended these days. Maybe Op should ask what succession plans are in place for the chair and vice chair...