There is no doubt that there is a
difference between men and women in the workplace. I mean, we hear it all the
time when people talk about the glass ceiling and how women are not receiving
the same rights as men. However, what we don’t hear is how language is having a
huge impact on the course of a woman’s work role. In my two previous blog posts
(Let’s Talk and The Language) I have shared information about the overall
concept of women in a meeting language and how women tend to use softening
devices when speaking. However, in this specific post the focus is on what
happens if women try to change their language.
First
of all, it is important to look at what exact language is different between men
and women in the workplace. Scholarly writer, Xia Xiufang discusses how women
and men have different pitches to their voices, which imply different
confidence levels. For example, women’s voices tend to suggest positivity where
as men’s voices command power and attention. Another scholar, Mary Barrett,
adds to this concept in her article by discussing how women tend to take the
back seat in conversations as men take on the lead voice. Barrett also suggests
how women are “wary of crossing hierarchical lines” so they do not always take
on the more aggressive roles and voice their opinions in the ways men do.
Between the differences in voices and their comfort zone of speaking, it is
clear that women are struggling to compete linguistically with men in
conversations.
Now
knowing what you do on the language difference, you must know what would happen
if women tried to change their language to be more like the men. This aspect is
something that scholarly articles are not really touching on, so we turn to the
popular stories. For example, Cosmopolitan writer, Jessica Bennett, discusses
how when women try to be more assertive like men, they get labeled and people
start name calling them. Women trying to rise to power begin to be called
aggressive, bossy, and cold, which Bennett refers to as the ABC’s of the
office. The image below shares additional adjectives that fall into this
classification.
From
this name-calling problem, Bennett shares how studies are showing less and less
women are running for higher positions in their workplace because they do not
want to deal with the ABC’s. Not only that, but according to Bennett, even the
women who do run are finding issues succeeding because while they can shrug the
name calling off, others’ perceptions are changing due to the given names. The overall
result is that women can’t seem to catch a break in the office, whether it is
through the language they are using or that actions they are taking. This is a linguistically
centered problem in which everyone should be aware of and working towards a solution.
