Communication And Gendered Communication

Communication and Gendered Communication

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Communication and Gendered Communication

Communication plays a vital role in building up the personality of a person. It is the key tool through which an individual makes their presence count in work places, social gatherings and even in personal life. Communication is a two way process between two persons or two groups. People use different accents and languages around the world in order to communicate with each other. People used both verbal and non-verbal way of communicating with each other in their daily life. However there is a clear distinction between communication and gendered communication, the choice of words, tone and accent differs according to the situation and the person in front. Communication between same genders is a lot different than a communication between two different genders.

Gender difference creates a gap between two people which also sets boundaries and limitations between two people and their communication process. According to people a conversation between two people of same gender is based on their information and rationalism. (Goh, J. X., & Hall, J. A. 2015). However, things are different when two opposite genders interact with each other. In a gendered communication the male often uses soft tone and polite gesture whereas the woman tries to respond by making an effort towards establishing a relationship. Generally in a male to male conversation they avoid to discuss serious and emotional topics whereas these types of conversations are involved in the daily life of females in different forms. Many people see it as gender stereotyping when males avoid discussing serious or emotional topics with females or when females are unable to respond rationally to the males. Males specifically are very cautious when they are in a conversation with a female; they tend to speak after thinking a lot and choosing their words carefully. Females usually observe and memorize more than males due to this reason male are noticed to be more hesitant than females.

There are certain theories which identify the types of communication people use in accordance to the situation and people around them. People unknowingly apply different theories and approaches in their way of communication. (Krolokke, C., & Sorensen, A. S. 2006). The muted theory is an approach or a type of communication process in which a specific group or an individual is excluded from a conversation. This happens due to multiple factors among which the most frequent are race, ethnicity, language, financial backgrounds and most importantly gender. It’s a common trend of males to exclude the participation of females from their conversations and discussions, this also reflects gender biasness. (Communication Theory, 2013).  Secondly, the standpoint approach under which the people change their way of communication according to the experiences they get gradually. Their perception and opinion changes and get influenced by witnessing the person and their activities on daily basis. (Gambetti, R. C, & et.al 2012). The transgender and cyborg theory is an approach which is used by people when they interact with people who belong to the LGBTQ community. People usually ignore and use reluctant tone with such people to avoid communication with them. (West, I. 2014).

The communication theories impact the way of interaction and behavior at professional and social forums. Companies and organizations are platforms where no gender discrimination should be made in terms of participation. However, the muted group approach is also a type of discrimination which males do with the female employees or females do with the males at certain events. Males have a perception that the females are unable to give a reasonable approach in a conversation. Whereas, the females think that the rationalism of the males depicts reluctant and rude behavior. This negatively affects the growth of a company because the main key of success for any business is frequent communication between the employees. Companies who have a lack in communication between employees result in weak or slow development process.

In accordance to my own experience, both genders have a different way of analyzing and executing a conversation. Males are more likely to give good professional advices that are beneficial for the company. I witnessed a recent event in my office where the company was going into loss due to being unable to clear debts. In such situation the CEO of the company took advices from its employees. Most of the females asked him to sell out the company and close the business in order to pay the debts. At the same time the males gave some reasonable advices, that to bring shareholders or stakeholders to the company and to reduce the number of workers for a specific time period. They also recommended to just provide the basic salary to all the employees for few months and to avoid giving bonuses until the company reaches the lost reputation again.

However females are more likely to give better advices that are economical as well. They master to be the best advisers especially when it comes to shopping and house hold matters. Recently my father was spilled some sauce on my mom’s favorite table cover and tried multiple ways to remove it. He wanted to do it without letting my mom know about this in order to avoid the consequences. However after a lot of efforts the stained was still there and my sister advised to rub some salt with baking soda on the stain and leave it for a while. After a while my father washed it and the stain was gone. Both events made a clear distinction that gendered communication is not discrimination between two people from different genders. However the participation level and expertise depends on the nature of the conversation.

References

Krolokke, C., & Sorensen, A. S. (2006). Gender communication theories and analyses: From silence to performance (No. 50). Sage.

Muted Group Theory. (2013). Communication Theory. Retrieved, from https://www.communicationtheory.org/muted-group-theory/

Goh, J. X., & Hall, J. A. (2015). Nonverbal and verbal expressions of men’s sexism in mixed-gender interactions. Sex Roles, 72(5-6), 252-261.

West, I. (2014). Transgender Studies Reader Edited by Susan Stryker and Aren Z. Aizura. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, 1(3), 162-164.

Gambetti, R. C., Graffigna, G., & Biraghi, S. (2012). The grounded theory approach to consumer-brand engagement: The practitioner's standpoint. International Journal of Market Research, 54(5), 659-687.