Gender and Data - Exam Question - Answer and Prep

Gender and Data – Exam Question

Guardian Article - https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/19/women-language-boardroom-study - Women told to speak their minds to get on in boardrooms – June 2011:

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L     -Linguistics expert Dr Judith Baxter - 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

·        - 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

·         -These traits are all in aid of avoiding conflict – can use example of Deborah Tannen as she agrees women aim to cooperate/compromise

·         -‘Baxter said such language, which the study describes as "double voice discourse" (DvD), was used because women were often heavily outnumbered on boards’

·         -Context: more men than women

·         -Would these traits be as apparent or obvious if there were more women in the boardroom – better to have more questions than answers in an exam question

·         -Baxter is not included in textbooks – using her makes you stand out

·         -Women experience a lack of power that makes it very hard to take control of the room and to be heard – Robin Lakoff

·         ‘-Men tend to direct and straight talking and if they are confrontational it is regarded as nothing personal, women avoid being directly confrontational and use a range of strategies to preserve a range of alliances, if not friendships, to achieve their agenda.’

·        - In some situations it is not language and gender; it is language and power – ‘Karren Brady, West Ham United FC's vice chair and star of BBC show The Apprentice, did not need to use the linguistic tricks, she had noticed.’ – she is not outnumbered, she is a person of power, the weaker participants use DvD

·         W-omen use hedging and fillers to avoid directly expressing opinion and to soften their words – Robin Lakoff

RADA article - https://www.radainbusiness.com/about-us/news-and-blogs/women-in-the-boardroom-what-s-holding-you-back - Women in boardrooms what’s holding you back? – November 2012

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     -What’s holding you back? – pragmatically asking the reader to think – a patriarchal society and 2000 years of oppression

·         -Being on the webpage would only be a result of someone telling you to be or you feeling you need to be

·         -Specific audience – you’re on this webpage because you’re looking for something – teaching not writing

·         -Response to – ‘By 2015 the Government recommendation is that 25% of FTSE 100 boardroom places be held by women.’ – in 2015 it was 27%, shows progress

·         -Guardian used a linguistics expert, this uses a business expert

·         -Trying to sell you something – ‘So with this in mind here are a few top RADA tips that will help you enhance your authority and credibility as you move up the corporate ladder.’- want you to listen and be persuaded by them

·         -Madeleine Albright – woman in position of power – ‘Learn to interrupt!’ – data in question shows women interrupt less

·         -‘Speak confidently and firmly. Speak logically, not emotionally.’ – suggests female language traits are being shy and unsure

·         -‘Make statements rather than asking questions.’ – Robin Lakoff suggest women use more tag questions – contradictory to use declaratives rather than interrogatives

·         -‘Address tough issues up front’ – controversial as it suggest women don’t address tough issues despite doing the toughest thing in the world; giving birth

·         -‘Sheelagh offers one-to-one coaching which can address your general issues of communication or focus around a particular aspect of personal presence or an upcoming communication challenge’ - £500 for 2 hours, more than some people earn in a week

Question:

Factors to Consider:

·         Status – who is the boss? Who has the most power in the room? – Women B only speaks for three seconds – is she an assistant?

Observations:

1.       Man F and Man G take the most turns

2.       Man F speaks the longest

3.       Woman D talks the most out of the woman and was interrupted more than anyone else was

4.       Woman B did not interrupt at all

5.       Man F interrupted four times more than the woman who interrupted most did

6.       Woman D took a significantly larger amount of turns than all of the other women

7.       All of the men took longer turns

8.       There are more men than women

9.       The man who spoke the least still spoke more than three of the women

10.   Man F interrupted the most but was also interrupted the second most, however the women didn’t interrupt much, suggesting he was interrupted by other men

The difference between male and female lexis has been a widely-discussed topic by language experts for years. A huge example of this is the 3 Ds model – difference, deficit and dominance – conducted by three female linguist experts who studied female language. There is evidence to suggest that this model is accurate and that men and women do speak differently but others think that they do not and society only makes us think we do.

Men and women are thought to use language differently when trying to be heard in meetings. Dr Judith Baxter, linguistics expert, states that women can revert to using what she describes as ‘double voice discourse’. This is what happens when a woman feels she is outnumbered by men as there are less women present, this is supported by the data on the table as it shows there were more men than women present in the staff meeting. Baxter states that ‘double voice discourse’ is a woman’s method of attempting to avoid confrontation by using humour and self-deprecating lexis that makes her come across as less confident and challenging. This is supported by Deborah Tannen’s Difference Model that discusses conflict vs compromise – the idea that women prefer to negotiate and avoid argument whilst men are more straightforward and like to challenge someone. This is seen in the table through the way that Man F interrupted four times more than the woman who interrupted the most did – 

Woman D. This shows men were more likely to interrupt and therefore less afraid of confronting someone and risking an alliance/friendship. This means that men and women can use language differently in some ways as women in boardrooms use their lexis to preserve relationships that will help them to achieve their agenda whilst men prefer to be direct and straight-talking, despite the danger it can put their relationships in.

Another way men and women are thought to use language differently is through the amount they talk and apologise. The table shows that the man who spoke the least (man E) still spoke more than three of the women (women A,B and C), suggesting that woman feel less inclined to talk in the boardroom or are not given the chance to. This is supported By Robin Lakoff’s deficit model as one of the key aspects of female language she identified was that women spoke less frequently because of fear of seeming chatty or annoying. Also, Dr Baxter identified that when women do speak they are more likely to ‘speak indirectly or apologetically’ which further supports this as it is possibly a woman’s way of making up for it when they do feel they are being chatty. Apologising frequently was another one of the key features Lakoff identified when studying women’s language. However, outside factors do need to be considered; it is possible that the three women in the meeting who did not speak frequently were of a lower status than everyone else (they could have been a secretary or assistant etc.). So, it cannot just be assumed that the only reason the women were speaking less was because they naturally felt they had to use lexis differently to how the men did. This shows that men and women can use language differently through how much they talk and how much they apologise but that can change depending on the context of the situation.

A theorist who would agree with considering the context behind language is Janet Hyde. Hyde believes that there are actually more similarities than differences between male and female language and that the only differences that are there can put down to a number of different factors such as; class, age, race, sexuality, location and background etc. It is possible that Woman B, who only spoke for an average of 3 seconds per turn, could have only been in there to keep time. So, naturally she would speak less than whoever the boss was in the meeting. This would be the case regardless of the gender of the two people who played these roles. Dr Baxter also mentions Karren Brady, a powerful lady, who does not ‘use the linguistic tricks’ possibly because she is not ‘greatly outnumbered by men’. This shows that women and men might not actually use different language at all; they just adapt it in certain situations (for example being outnumbered) as Brady does not need to use it to be heard by her colleagues or to remain in power. . This would prove Hyde’s theory to be right as the lexis is not affected by the fact that it is used by women; it is affected by the fact they are the only women in a room full of men, therefore the differences are a result of the situation and not gender.

To conclude, the differences between male and female lexis is an ever-growing and controversial topic. Due to the amount of theories that people have and the amount of evidence that falls on both sides of the spectrum, it may be impossible to identify whether males and females really do speak differently or if there are external factors that influence everything people say. Each theory may be correct in some situations and can probably apply to a number of conversations, especially when the people having them vary (e.g. an all-male conversation, a mixed conversation etc.). This means that there is no definitive answer to whether language is affected by gender and that people can only make educated assumptions based off of studies and opinion.