Introduction
Communication is arguably the corner stone on which any successful relationship is built. The importance of effective communication is universally acknowledged. As such, a lot of research has been taken on the subject and numerous books written so as to help people improve their skills so as to make them more effective in their communication efforts.
There exist different communication styles and the one that an individual adopts may be as a result of physiological, biological, educational and cultural factors. Gender has also been noted as a contributing factor to effective communication.
In this report, the supposition that gender differences in communication exist shall be analyzed. Using current and relevant literature, a detailed report on the topic shall be provided. This shall be in a bid to accentuate on the communication differences that are inherent in men and women.
Communication involves the sending and receiving of messages and it forms an integral part of any culture. However, research indicates that men and women communicate differently. Despite the fact that men and women are created in God’s image, they differ in functionality and design.
Evidence of this is based on the fact that they often interpret the same message differently. This is arguably the most eccentric aspect of communication. As mentioned earlier, there are some behavioral, biological, educational and environmental characteristics that influence an individual’s communication style.
These characteristics affect the type of message that needs to be developed, how it will be developed and the most relevant type of communications channels that will be used to each category of an audience.
Gender communication differences
As mentioned earlier, men and women have different communication styles. This is mainly as a result of nurturing and social constructs that they experience during child hood. In regard to nurturing, adults often talk to boys in a raised tonal voice. They are communicated to in a direct and relatively harsh tone.
Girls on the other hand are often cooed and talked to gently and expressively. As such, men communicate in a direct, dominating and aggressive manner while women communicate in an expressive and calm fashion. In matters relating to social constructs, boys often play in groups and in most cases, one of them is always the leader of the group.
The leader always controls the conversations. This is what makes men hieratical, leaders and dominators. In addition, this aspect gives them more freedom in communication that their women counterparts.
On the other hand, girls also form play groups. However, girls form such groups to support and express each other’s point of view. As a result, women are expressive, supportive and more emotional when it comes to communication.
On the same note, gender communication seeks to establish adaptability between the sexes rather than change their communication styles. Men and women respond differently to issues such as conflicts and stress. In regard to this, women often disclose their emotions and challenges more easily than men.
On the other hand, women always try to create an interdependent relationship with men. This is achieved by their constant desire to establish open communication skills with men. Since both approaches often lead to misunderstandings and conflict, both sexes have to adapt to each other’s communication styles in order to avoid such conflicts.
In a biological perspective, women have the ability to utilize both hemispheres (collosum) of their brains. As such, they can easily handle emotions and logic at the same time. This would explain why women are able to make sense even when they are emotional.
On the other hand, men can only use one hemisphere at a time. This means that they cannot be emotional and logical at the same time. This would explain why men cannot express themselves when it comes to emotional relationships, while women manage the task just fine.
Educationally, men have over the years dominated the science fields while women take hold of the art subjects. Documented literature reveals that men in most cases perform better than women in mathematics, chemistry and physics. Women on the other hand do better than men in languages, literary works and social sciences.
As a result, men often take a practical approach towards issues and life while women take an expressive approach to the same. This would to some extent explain why women are better communicators than men.
In addition, it justifies why men use more gestures, assumes that there is a different solution to a problem and finds it hard to admit when they are wrong. Women on the other hand are able to express themselves eloquently and communicate towards conflict resolution and avoidance.
Importance of gender communication
Generally, gender communication is pivotal to the peaceful and harmonious coexistence among individuals. Not only does this type of communication promote equality among the sexes, it also presents them with an opportunity to learn, adapt and respect each other’s differences in mannerisms, thought processes and preferences.
Conclusion
From this report, it is evident that the gender communication differences are influenced by stereotypic tendencies exhibited by human beings. Women are assumed to be sensitive and talkative while men are often viewed as callous beings to which violence is the solution to every problem. However these views may or may not be true.
However, the fact still remains that there are significant differences in how men and women communicate. While understanding their explanations, the differences in the communication styles of women and men should be considered and a middle ground developed, where both sexes can use these differences to develop better relationships and understanding.