Principal speaker
Mary Barrett
Abstract: Both academic research in linguistics and the popular advice literature have been preoccupied with women’s and men’s communication styles at work, particularly how women’s communication styles adversely affect perceptions of them as leaders, innovators and problem-solvers. Thimm, Koch and Schey (2005) argue that the study of gendered aspects of communication at work is now an integral part of research into the gendered organisation. Popular commentators appear to accept a view that women’s communication styles are naturally and hence appropriately different from those of men: more indirect, quiet and narratively focused. Cameron (2005) points out the centuries-long history of this ideology, and how it has prompted a form of “verbal hygiene” in terms of efforts to change how women speak. Yet as linguists know, there is nothing essentially subordinate about women’s typical communication styles, rather women’s styles are constructed as subordinate in women’s interactions with men. In the wake of the deposing of Australia’s first female Prime Minister, who set store by her bogan voice but who was also blamed for her “automaton” manner of public speaking, the issue has reached new prominence. The paper reports on the author’s and others’ research into the effect of gender and communication style in different work situations, and speculates on the future of the field in an era which includes third wave feminism, anti-feminism, and girl power.
Speaker:
Mary Barrett is Professor of Management in the Faculty of Business at the University of Wollongong. Her research and teaching interests include women in management, especially as owners of their own businesses and in family businesses, women in the professions, and gender and communication at work. Mary is the author of six books and numerous academic articles on these topics.
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