Editing Gender role (section)

==Communication==
{{See also|Gender role in language|Grammatical gender|Language and gender|Gender differences in social network service use}}
Gender communication is viewed as a form of intercultural communication; and gender is both an influence on and a product of communication.

Communication plays a large role in the process in which people become male or female because each gender is taught different linguistic practices. Gender is dictated by society through expectations of behavior and appearances, and then is shared from one person to another, by the process of communication.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Gender in Communication: A Critical Introduction |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4522-2009-3 |page=3}}</ref> Gender does not create communication, communication creates gender.<ref>{{cite book |last1=DeFrancisco |first1=Victoria L. |last2=Palczewski |first2=Catherine Helen |last3=McGeough |first3=Danielle Dick |title=Gender in Communication: A Critical Introduction |location=Los Angeles |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |date=2014}}</ref>{{pn|date=February 2025}}

For example, females are often more expressive and intuitive in their communication, but males tend to be instrumental and competitive. In addition, there are differences in accepted communication behaviors for males and females. To improve communication between genders, people who identify as either male or female must understand the differences between each gender.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Gender Differences in Communication |title=Intercultural Communication: A Global Reader |editor-first=Fred E. |editor-last=Jandt |location=Thousand Oaks, CA |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |date=2004 |pages=221–229}}</ref>

As found by Cara Tigue (McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada) the importance of powerful vocal delivery for women in leadership<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 May 2012 |title=Voice pitch influences voting behavior |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513811001024 |journal=[[Evolution and Human Behavior]] |language=en |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=210–216 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.09.004 |issn=1090-5138 |last1=Tigue |first1=Cara C. |last2=Borak |first2=Diana J. |last3=O'Connor |first3=Jillian J. M. |last4=Schandl |first4=Charles |last5=Feinberg |first5=David R. |bibcode=2012EHumB..33..210T |s2cid=146720126}}</ref> could not be underestimated, as famously described in accounts of Margaret Thatcher's years in power.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Martinson |first=Jane |date=15 November 2011 |title=Must a woman lower the tone of her voice to be successful? |url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2011/nov/15/woman-lower-tone-voice-successful |access-date=8 June 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref>

===Nonverbal communication===
Hall published an observational study on nonverbal gender differences and discussed the cultural reasons for these differences.<ref>Hall, J. A. (1990). Nonverbal sex differences: Accuracy of communication and expressive style. Baltimore, MD, US: Johns Hopkins University Press.</ref> In her study, she noted women smile and laugh more and have a better understanding of nonverbal cues. She believed women were encouraged to be more emotionally expressive in their language, causing them to be more developed in nonverbal communication.

Men, on the other hand, were taught to be less expressive, to suppress their emotions, and to be less nonverbally active in communication and more sporadic in their use of nonverbal cues. Most studies researching nonverbal communication described women as being more expressively and judgmentally accurate in nonverbal communication when it was linked to emotional expression; other nonverbal expressions were similar or the same for both genders.<ref>Fischer, A. H. (2000). Gender and emotion: Social psychological perspectives. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.</ref>

McQuiston and Morris also noted a major difference in men and women's nonverbal communication. They found that men tend to show body language linked to dominance, like eye contact and interpersonal distance, more than women.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McQuiston |first1=D. |last2=Morris |first2=K. A. |year=2009 |title=Gender differences in communication: Implications for salespeople |journal=Journal of Selling & Major Account Management |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=54–64}}</ref>

===Communication and gender cultures===
[[File:Personality and gender word cloud for social media.png|thumb|upright|Words, phrases, and topics most highly distinguishing English-speaking females and males in social media in 2013]]
According to author [[Julia T. Wood|Julia Wood]], there are distinct communication 'cultures' for women and men in the US.<ref>Wood, J (2010) Gendered lives: Communication, gender and culture. Cengage Learning.</ref> She believes that in addition to female and male communication cultures, there are also specific communication cultures for African Americans, older people, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], gay men, lesbians, and people with disabilities. According to Wood, it is generally thought that biological sex is behind the distinct ways of communicating, but in her opinion the root of these differences is gender.<ref>Wood, J (2010) Gendered lives: Communication, gender and culture. Cengage Learning. p. 37</ref>

Maltz and Broker's research suggested that the games children play may contribute to socializing children into [[masculine]] and [[feminine]] gender roles:<ref name="maltz">Maltz, D., & Borker, R. (1982). A cultural approach to male-female miscommunication. In J. Gumperz (Ed.), Language and social identity (pp. 196–216). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.</ref> for example, girls being encouraged to play "house" may promote stereotypically feminine traits, and may promote interpersonal relationships as playing house does not necessarily have fixed rules or objectives; boys tended to play more competitive and adversarial team sports with structured, predetermined goals and a range of confined strategies.