Why women talk less when they’re in groups
They don’t talk much when they’re in the minority, but that changes when there’s a majority or when consensus rules.
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Women don’t voice their opinions or talk as much as men when they are in groups where they are the minority, according to a new study published in American Political Science Review.
The gender gap, however, is wiped out when women in the group are in the majority or when the group agrees to make decisions through consensus or unanimity, the Brigham Young University and Princeton study found.
“We were interested in how democratic systems can be made to work better by involving more people and hearing more voices,” explained Tali Mendelberg, co-author of the study and an associate professor of politics at Princeton University.
Meetings are a ubiquitous part of modern life and politics, said Mendelberg. And women are less likely to see themselves and be seen by others as influential or have their voice heard. “Just sitting in a room is not enough for women who are socialized in society to have less confidence in speaking in groups,” she explained.
So Mendelberg and co-author Chris Karpowitz, an assistant professor in political science at Brigham Young University, decided to look at how much of a problem this gap was and what could be done to correct it.
In the study the researchers set up 94 groups — with different numbers of men and women in them — and randomly assigned them to discuss ways to distribute money they earned together. Some were told to use majority rules; others were told to achieve a decision by consensus.
“We found that women do tend to talk less than men and . . . this gender gap in speech can be overcome if certain procedures are in place,” she said.
“If a group adopts a rule that a decision has to be made by consensus then every voice has to be heard.” And that means more women speak up, she said.
Women also speak up more when they are more evenly represented in the group, the study found.
Women who are more prone to silence in groups usually have less confidence in their speaking abilities and knowledge, Mendelberg said.
“The average woman tends to participate much less than the average man,” added Karpowitz, who also is the associate director of the Center for Elections and Democracy at Brigham.
“That’s a big problem because when women speak up they have unique positions to add and something significant is lost when women aren’t speaking.”
There are a couple of ways to address the gender gap, he said. “Increase the number of women in groups or use other rules like consensus that encourage women to speak up and become part of the conversation.”
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