“Women are learning more assertive techniques that allow them to speak more in the pubic arena, groups and public speaking,” said Nubel.

Granted, women are still underrepresented in most fields. The words CEO and president still conjure up the image of a man. Women make up the majority of the population but have the least representation in government. When a woman makes it to the top of a business, she often has to field questions and inquiries that are not directed towards men in similar positions. Women deal with these issues in different ways.

Take Carly Fiorina as an example. During the summer of 1999, Fiorina became the first president and CEO of Hewlett Packard. Many reporters flocked to Fiorina and questioned her regarding her stance on the “glass ceiling” and sexual discrimination. Fiorina’s response? She denied it even existed. Perhaps it was a smart move to dismiss the notion in order to avoid having to field such questions that will certainly not be directed towards men. However, to deny the problem is to ignore, not fix it.

The president of The College of New Jersey is a woman. R. Barbara Gitenstein does recognize the problems that women face and the differences in speaking patterns that serve to perpetuate the issues.

Gitenstein believes however that the changing role of women in the business and workplace will serve to bring about an evolution in the ways that people view communication in men and women.

“I do believe that there are some differences between the way women and men communicate, but that these differences are the result of socialization, and not nature. Thus, as a woman’s situation changes, much that has been determined to be female communication will change,” said Gitenstein.

Steele believes the way to overcome these problems is for people not to view women as the victims or men as the aggressors. People just have to recognize that there are differences in speaking patterns and they should not associate negative connotations such as weakness or dominating aggression to types of speech.

Also, in order for much of the research on speech patterns to be taken seriously, men need to start studying it as well as women, said Steele.

Nubel believes there is some progress being made in the newer generations, which perhaps speaks highly for a more favorable highly communicative future.

“Younger men seem to be becoming aware of the importance of symmetrical communication while women are realizing that men don’t dominate to be rude or shut them out but because this is just their communication style. They expect others including women to interrupt, topic share, etc. Men are also starting to see the importance of being more receptive. They are also entering nontraditional professions that call for this style,” she said.

However in the meantime, such disparities in treatment between men and women and in the perception of speech patterns and techniques still persist.

Gitenstein recommends that young women, “try to use both types of communication and to be attentive to what kinds of language, communication and interaction works best for the individual person.”