Use Your Voice And Talk Man Talk
Some people say women talk too much. Maybe so.
In a video message posted just before International Women’s Day on March 8, Queen Rania of Jordan says that on average women use 20,000 words in a day, almost three times as many as men do on average.
Perhaps she read those statistics in In The Female Mind, a book by female psychiatrist Dr. Luan Brizendine, a great synopsis of which can be found in a well-written article by Fiona Macrae on 4 girls, 1 blog, a bold, brash and somewhat risque blog with four points of view (I love this blog, but be forewarned, these four aren’t afraid of foul language…).
According to Macrae’s article:
Dr Brizendine, says the differences can be traced back to the womb, where the sex hormone testosterone moulds the developing male brain. The areas responsible for communication, emotion and memory are all pared back in male feotuses. The result is that boys – and men – chat less than their female counterparts and struggle to express their emotions to the same extent.
Aha! I knew there had to be some scientific reason.
If it’s true that we talk a lot more, I wonder why, as Queen Rania asserts in the video below, that our voices still aren’t heard?
Although women are making lots of progress, it’s still a man’s world. Could it be that we don’t know how to talk man talk?
Most definitely, says Nancy Clark, CEO of WomensMedia and a frequent speaker on issues involving gender in the workplace.
Working Women’s Resource
WomensMedia is a great resource for career women; it’s full of tips and ideas on how women can be more successful in business, and in the workplace.
In one of her helpful podcasts titled How To Change “I Speak Like A Girl” to “I Know What I’m Talking About,” Clark quotes Deborah Tannen’s book You Don’t Understand, which says that men use “report” talk, and women use “rapport” talk, and that puts us at a disadvantage in business.
Women may talk more overall, but Clark says research shows that men talk longer and more than women in meetings, and that men tend to challenge women more than they do other men in a business environment.
(Maybe that’s why women comprise 46.5% of the workforce and only 16 % of upper management in US companies. My observation is that our numbers in upper management are even less in other parts of the world.)
Clark’s podcast goes on to give a number of practical tips and techniques to help women talk like men talk, at least in a business environment, and thus increase their chances of being heard, and more importantly, of achieving greater success.
Speak Up For Educating Girls
Meanwhile, Queen Rania encourages us to use our voices to help change the dismal worldwide situation in which 41 million girls are shut out of schools around the world because of poverty and prejudice.
She uses her own powerful voice to tell us what happens when girls are educated instead of excluded from learning opportunities.
Her words are definitely worth listening to and sharing….
Related links:
