Affects Of Gender On Business Communication

Communication is the process of a message being successfully relayed from a sender to a receiver. It can only be said to have truly taken place when the receiver responds with the appropriate feedback. Anything that gets in the way of the message being received and understood is called ‘noise’ whether it be audible or not. In Business Communication, noise can actually come in the form of gender for the following reasons.

Pitch of Voices

Women have higher voices than men and often people associate authority with more depth in the voice. Women and men with higher voices tend to be taken less seriously which can make it harder for them to relay important time sensitive messages.

Work Attire

Having the wrong attire can make someone seem less professional whether or not they are competent at their jobs. The situation is amplified for women because fashion trends tend to fluctuate for them in much more extreme ways. If a female executive is wearing less expensive or fashionable relevant clothes, it has been shown that people think of her as less able to do her job. Men rarely face such issues and some have even been praised on some level for their willingness to flout fashion trends and wear the same thing whenever seen in public.

Perceptions of Aggression

Male aggression in the workplace is seen as powerful and part of being a good boss. Female aggression contrasts stereotypes of nurturing motherly women and so it is generally viewed less favorably. When a woman tries to convey the gravity of a situation and discipline a staff member, whether the party at fault is male or female, they are likely to see her as hormonal rather than authoritative.

Wage Differences

It is easy to think of money as a measure of power. People often find themselves unconsciously thinking of wealthier people as smarter. As a result, when many women earn 75 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn in the same job, their lower wealth makes them seen less competent. The people they speak to may not even notice they harbor this bias but it happens.

Just as there were once far more strictly upheld barriers to women’s entry into business, there will most likely be an end to these issues in the foreseeable future. It simply requires a concerted effort by women and those who believe they should be treated fairly.