Men and women have different communication styles. The language and the communication styles used by both men and women show different cultural beliefs ( Merchant, 2012). For instance, in a conversation men strive to dominate over women but women strive to build friendships and promote equality. The conversation between my two friends indicates the difference in language and communication between two genders. The man interrupted the woman more frequently. The woman interrupted once but the man interrupted more than five times. It is like the man wanted to do the talking while the woman is listening. This shows that the man always wants to lead in a conversation (Canary & Dindia, 2009). There are six question tags used five of which are from the woman’s side.
During the conversation, there were filler words such as "mh", "ah" and "oh". These are paralanguage gestures and the woman used them more frequently than the man as an indication of agreeing to the communication. The man used the filler words but less frequently. Women use paralanguage as a way of connecting and creating a friendship with the men during conversation ( Kimbrough, Guadagno, Muscanell & Dill, 2013). They both used eye contact during the conversation. The man used eye contact only when trying to prove a point but the woman used eye contact in the entire conversation. They sat side by side during the conversation. The man was touching the woman on the shoulder during the conversation. At some point in the conversation, the man stood and started talking while standing with his legs apart. They used gestures such as facial expressions and hand gestures. During the conversation, the man used a commanding voice and talked more than the woman. The woman was polite and was doing more of nodding than talking.
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The man was interrupting the woman while trying to prove a point. This indicates that in a conversation, the man always wants to win and dominate. The woman interrupted once but it was only to correct an implication so that the implication does not mess up the conversation. The woman was using question tags like "isn't it?" and "don't you?" to seek approval of what she was saying but the man used only one question tag. This means that his words are right and he does not need any approval. The use of paralanguage to show agreement is a way of creating connection and friendship. The woman used them to connect to the man. The man used eye contact to showcase his power as a man but the woman used eye contact to create an emotional connection between the two. Clearly, the conversation is an indication that there is a gender difference in communication.
Although United States women are stereotyped to be fighting to be equals with men, the truth is, men are still dominating and women play their primary role of caring and respecting men ( Kapidzic & Herring 2011). Most of the American women pursue their careers and engage in positions of power but they are still the cultural women, dominated by men. In Indian culture, women are supposed to remain at home and take care of the children. This is perceived as submission since most of them that are still upholding the old tradition does not even go to school. But in American culture, women are allowed to go out to work and dominate in position. It is believed that most of the ladies who go out to work are arrogant and are not able to be ruled over by men. The truth is, regardless of them going to work and having higher ranks at work than men, they still are women. And in any communication, a woman strives to build a connection and friendship while the man wants to win and dominate.
References
Canary, D. J., & Dindia, K. (Eds.). (2009). Sex differences and similarities in communication . Routledge.
Kapidzic, S., & Herring, S. C. (2011). Gender, communication, and self-presentation in teen chatrooms revisited: Have patterns changed?. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication , 17 (1), 39-59.
Merchant, K. (2012). How men and women differ: Gender differences in communication styles, influence tactics, and leadership styles.
Kimbrough, A. M., Guadagno, R. E., Muscanell, N. L., & Dill, J. (2013). Gender differences in mediated communication: Women connect more than do men. Computers in Human Behavior , 29 (3), 896-900.
