Gender Communication Differences and Styles Little did we know that the communication differences we experienced as children on the playground would move from the classroom to the boardroom. As the face of business transforms with more women occupying key management positions, the requirement of reducing the gender communication gap is growing: miscommunication can cost money, opportunities, and jobs. Statistics tell the story. Researchers in the 1970s predicted the disappearance of gender communication differences as women moved into higher management positions, the gap or "disconnection" remains. Question: Where does this lack of awareness surface most often? Answer: In organizations where one gender mainly sells to buyers of the same gender. For years, male stock brokers have been selling mostly to other males - their comfort zone. As the traditional picture changes and both men and women must communicate in teams, manage, and sell to the other gender, their awareness grows. Questions. The results:
Language and gender Introduction This guide is written for students who are following GCE Advanced level (AS and A2) syllabuses in English Language. This resource may also be of general interest to language students on university degree courses, trainee teachers and anyone with a general interest in language science. On this page I use red type for emphasis. Brown type is used where italics would appear in print (in this screen font, italic looks like this, and is unkind on most readers). Back to top Language and gender - what is it all about? When you start to study language and gender, you may find it hard to discover what this subject, as a distinct area in the study of language, is about. To get you started, here is an outline of part of one exam board's Advanced level module on Language and Social Contexts - there are three subjects, one of which is Language and Gender. This is unobjectionable but not very helpful - essentially it tells you that you have to study spoken and written data. Robin Lakoff
Summary #8 THE CASE OF THE MISSING MALE READER: IMPLICATIONS OF GENDERLECT AND THE REA...: Resource Finder Despite the increasing relationship between literacy and economic opportunities, the time young adult males spend reading has fallen during the last 20 years, with a corresponding decline in their reading levels. One important factor influencing the appeal of reading material to males is whether it is "real"--whether males see themselves and their concerns in the text. Language, an important constituent of gender, must be part of making text "real" for adolescent males. The author examined nearly 200 fiction works written for young adult males and concluded that few are written in a male "genderlect," the language that males use. The article identifies several works that do use such language. Economic opportunity and literacy are closely related, yet the amount of time older adolescents spend reading has declined during the last 20 years, more so for males than for females (Baker, 2002; Nippold, Duthie, & Larsen, 2005). The Reading Preferences of Adolescent Males * They include humor
Women told to speak their minds to get on in boardrooms | World news | The Guardian Women – including those who work in senior positions for some of the country's leading firms – are held back from reaching the very highest levels in business because of the difficulties they find in striking the right tone of language during high pressure meetings. The claim is made by linguistics expert Dr Judith Baxter, who undertook an 18-month study into the speaking patterns of men and women at meetings in seven major well-known companies, including two in the FTSE-100. The research found that women were four times more likely than men to be self-deprecating, use humour and speak indirectly or apologetically when broaching difficult subjects with board members in order to avoid conflict. And it doesn't always work. Baxter said such language, which the study describes as "double voice discourse" (DvD), was used because women were often heavily outnumbered on boards. "I am not saying that women are more sharing and caring than men.
Language and Woman's Place: Text and Commentaries - Robin Tolmach Lakoff, Mar... The 1975 publication of Robin Tolmach Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place, is widely recognized as having inaugurated feminist research on the relationship between language and gender, touching off a remarkable response among language scholars, feminists, and general readers. For the past thirty years, scholars of language and gender have been debating and developing Lakoff's initial observations. Arguing that language is fundamental to gender inequality, Lakoff pointed to two areas in which inequalities can be found: Language used about women, such as the asymmetries between seemingly parallel terms like master and mistress, and language used by women, which places women in a double bind between being appropriately feminine and being fully human. Lakoff's central argument that "women's language" expresses powerlessness triggered a controversy that continues to this day.
Resource #7 This article has been reprinted from Faith & Mission, Fall 1996, with permission from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Scripture teaches about the uniqueness of men and women. While created in the image of God with equality of worth and value, men and women are different by design and function. Gender differences are apparent physically and behaviorally. In recent years, the communication styles of men and women have been studied scientifically. The general gender communication differences affect all men and women in every context. What is Genderlect? In recent years, perhaps as women have entered the workplace in larger numbers, the obvious communicative style differences between men and women have been discussed publicly. The term genderlect has been coined to define the language of the sexes. Genderflex, according to Judith C. When Does Gender Communication Develop? Gender Communication Differences Body language is also used differently by men and women. Conclusion Gray, John.
Language and Woman's Place: Text and Commentaries - Robin Tolmach Lakoff, Mary Bucholtz The 1975 publication of Robin Tolmach Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place, is widely recognized as having inaugurated feminist research on the relationship between language and gender, touching off a remarkable response among language scholars, feminists, and general readers. For the past thirty years, scholars of language and gender have been debating and developing Lakoff's initial observations. Arguing that language is fundamental to gender inequality, Lakoff pointed to two areas in which inequalities can be found: Language used about women, such as the asymmetries between seemingly parallel terms like master and mistress, and language used by women, which places women in a double bind between being appropriately feminine and being fully human. Lakoff's central argument that "women's language" expresses powerlessness triggered a controversy that continues to this day.
Language and gender Introduction This guide is written for students who are following GCE Advanced level (AS and A2) syllabuses in English Language. This resource may also be of general interest to language students on university degree courses, trainee teachers and anyone with a general interest in language science. On this page I use red type for emphasis. Back to top Language and gender - what is it all about? When you start to study language and gender, you may find it hard to discover what this subject, as a distinct area in the study of language, is about. To get you started, here is an outline of part of one exam board's Advanced level module on Language and Social Contexts - there are three subjects, one of which is Language and Gender. This is unobjectionable but not very helpful - essentially it tells you that you have to study spoken and written data. How language reveals, embodies and sustains attitudes to gender. Is it easy or hard? Studying language and gender is easy and hard at the same time.
Language, Gender and Feminism: Theory, Methodology and Practice - Sara Mills,... Language, Gender and Feminism presents students and researchers with key contemporary theoretical perspectives, methodologies and analytical frameworks in the field of feminist linguistic analysis. Mills and Mullany cover a wide range of contemporary feminist theories and emphasise the importance of an interdisciplinary approach. Topics covered include: power, language and sexuality, sexism and an exploration of the difference between second and third wave feminist analysis. Each chapter presents examples from research conducted in different cultural and linguistic contexts which allows students to observe practical applications of all current theories and approaches. Throughout oral and written language data, from a wealth of different contexts, settings and sources, is thoroughly analysed.
Summary #7 Level Up: English Language - Language and gender Language and Gender There are two different types of Language and Gender questions you could be asked about: representations of gender and gender in action. For instance, magazine articles, adverts and books all include representations of gender (usually stereotypes) and not what males and females are really like. It's the perception of a gender difference, not a real gender difference. Transcripts, however, will show you how gender differences affect language (unless they are faked, be careful!) A distinction you must understand: The big question in linguistics: does being female affect a person's language, or is it merely the attitude towards feminine that make us think there is a difference? Gender Researchers Many leading linguists have a thing or two to say about language and gender. Difference Theory As the title indicates, the difference theory is the idea that males and females really do converse differently. A big advocate of this approach is Deborah Tannen. Christine Howe Women hedge.