## Is Your Communication Style Dictated By Your Gender?
Source URL:: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2016/03/31/is-your-communication-style-dictated-by-your-gender/>
### Highlights
> [!quote]+ %%Updated on Tue Mar 28 2023 11:25:12 GMT-0400%%
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> Top Three Communication Strengths For Females:
>1. Ability to read body language and pick up nonverbal cues.
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>2. Good listening skills.
>3. Effective display of empathy.
>Top Three Communication Weaknesses For Females:
>1. Overly emotional.
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>2. Meandering–won’t get to the point.
>3. Not authoritative.
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>Top Three Communication Strengths For Males:
>1. Commanding physical presence.
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>2. Direct and to-the-point interactions.
>3. Effective display of power.
>Top Three Communication Weaknesses For Males:
>1. Overly blunt and direct.
>2. Insensitive to audience reactions.
>3. Too confident in own opinion.
> [!quote]+ %%Updated on Tue Mar 28 2023 11:26:28 GMT-0400%%
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> To a woman, good listening skills include making eye contact and reacting visually to the speaker. To a man, listening can take place with a minimum of eye contact and almost no nonverbal feedback. (Women often cite a lack of eye contact as evidence that their male boss “doesn’t value my input.”)
> [!quote]+ %%Updated on Tue Mar 28 2023 11:26:39 GMT-0400%%
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> When a man nods, it means he agrees. When a woman nods, it means she agrees or is listening or is encouraging another to continue speaking.
> [!quote]+ %%Updated on Tue Mar 28 2023 11:26:52 GMT-0400%%
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> Women sound more emotional because they use approximately five tones when speaking–and their voices rise under stress. Men only use approximately three tones, and their deeper voices sound more confident. But, because men don’t have a wide vocal range, they have a tendency to become monotone.
> [!quote]+ %%Updated on Tue Mar 28 2023 11:29:13 GMT-0400%%
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> In business meetings, men talk more than women. One perspective on this verbal disparity comes from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who–when asked what advice she had for up-and-coming professional women–replied, “Learn to interrupt.”
> [!quote]+ %%Updated on Tue Mar 28 2023 11:29:29 GMT-0400%%
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> Two men speaking will angle their bodies slightly, while two women will stand in a more “squared up” position–a stance (when exhibited by males) that most men perceive as confrontational.
> [!quote]+ %%Updated on Tue Mar 28 2023 11:29:36 GMT-0400%%
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> Men who don’t know each other well tend to keep a greater distance between them than women who have just met. This difference in interpersonal distance as determined by gender is even true in online communities that use avatars, where many of the unconscious “rules” governing personal space in the physical world can be found in the virtual world.