Where are the Great Women Orators?

Turning over my keyboard this week to ZMF colleauge Bill Grimes. Who would make your list of great female orators? Comment below and let us hear your list. Talk to you soon ... TZ

There are, and have been, great orators who happen to be women; Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Thatcher, Barbara Jordan, Hillary Clinton, to name a few. But male orators, past and present, far outnumber the women. Historian Philip Gavin’s Great Speeches Collection lists sixty-five speeches – three were given by women. University of Texas at Tyler Communications Professor Michael Eidenmuller’s list of the 100 greatest speeches has a better ratio than Gavin’s, but still just twenty-one were delivered by women.

Poll your friends and you will likely find what I did. Out of thirty-seven “great speakers” named by a dozen friends, two were women. Even most of the women named all men.

Under “Orator” in Wikipedia you will find that “the leading Roman families often sent their sons” to study under Greek masters. Why not their daughters? The great Greek philosophers – Aristotle, Socrates, Plato – were all of the male persuasion. This predilection for testosterone over estrogen continued for hundreds of years. Betty Rizzo, author of “Male Oratory and Female Prate” wrote, “Throughout the eighteenth century, while male rhetoric was almost universally, perhaps unprecedentedly, valued and studied, women’s silence was almost universally commended, recommended, and virtually enforced.”

The recognition of women orators lags that of racial minorities. The inspirational leaders of the Civil Rights Movement such as Martin Luther King fed off a Black religious tradition of several centuries. Max Atkinson, author of “Our Master’s Voices,” says there were no such obvious models for females leading into the women’s movement.”

The lack of women orators also boils down to the standard obstacles: familiarity, custom, preference for a deep voice, and sexism. You can’t dismiss the fact that most of the lists of great speeches were made by men.

Bill Grimes is a communication professional with more than thirty years of experience, the last eighteen of which have been at ZMF. His expertise as a communication consultant is built upon more than fifteen years as a broadcast journalist. Bill is frequently invited to speak about persuasive communication, media training and media crisis management.

Article on Gender Roles in Business

Once again, I am honored to be quoted in new article on MSN about gender roles in business.

Click here to read:

http://bit.ly/iRMLF

However, I take issue with a fellow contributor's quote. Mr. Flett's advice not to flirt may or may not be sound advice. I am, however, anxious to pick up his book to determine whether he gives men the same advice. In nearly 30 years as a professional businesswoman, the only businessman I've seen who doesn't flirt is a dead one. I'll be investigating this further and will follow-up with you; I also may decide to take the dialogue to Twitter.
_________________

FOLLOW-UP:
So, I decided to take my concern about Mr. Flett's advice to Twitter. Here's our exchange:

From me (@tzagnoli) to @ghostceo:
"Fellow contributor on MSN's gender story, but I take issue w/ your quote. Couldn't find comment area, so thought I'd tweet u. .... Your advice not to flirt may or may not be sound advice. I haven't read your book (yet!), but do you give men the same advice?"

From @ghostceo to me:
"I do. The double edged sword is...men can do it and be laughed off as dorks; women are considered slutty. Unfair? Yes."

From me to @ghostceo:
"So let's don't perpetuate the divide. Let's give the girls/women some rules. Slutty clothes - no. Flowing hair - no. Come hither nonverbals - no. A smile, a well placed wink, compliment, pout - maybe. I am sure you could do much better than this short list. It is easier to teach someone how to do something then to tell them to stop, knowing the advice will get ignored way too often. Yes?"

Still waiting on his response, but what say you? Do you think flirting is acceptable in for men and women ... if so, by who and when?

The Great Divide?

As I told you before, I’ve been trying to get out in the blogging world more. I happened upon a great blog about blogging by Barbara Swafford that showcases a blog each week (fantastic idea). She recently featured two blogs that I happen to really enjoy…the Urban Panther and the Urban Lion. The witty banter and dialogue between this couple started me thinking about a topic communication experts commonly focus on…the differences in communication between genders.

ZMF consultants commonly speak about disparities between the genders in our speeches and presentations. As the founder in a woman owned business who works in a male dominated industry, I am intimately familiar with those differences. People commonly ask me if I change my language or communication style when working with my clients. The answer – most definitely. I certainly don’t communicate the same way to every individual or audience. As I’ve written before, it is vital to charm your audience if you want them to listen to you. Engaging your audience means speaking to them in relatable terms. For example, if your audience is a male group of CEOs, don’t use an example about your experiences with the local PTA. Or if you are speaking at a local mom’s workshop, don’t pepper your lecture with cursing when research shows almost three-quarters of women would be offended.

Traditional gender roles suggest women are more submissive, dependent and subjective while men tend toward more aggressive, independent and objective. However, specific communication nuances exist about how each gender communicates, what they talk about and what their goals for communication are. A few examples:

1. Men tend to communicate to give information while women tend to communicate to get information.
   
   
2. Women tend to use more emotional language while men rely on factual oriented language in conversation.
   
   
3. Men are more apt to talk about things, sports, business or money to share facts, not necessarily details. Women are more apt to talk about people while sharing feelings and details. Ladies – ask your husband how his day was and you will likely get a recitation of the facts…meetings, lunch, an important conference call – it’s a 5-minute conversation. Then, give your girlfriend a call and ask the same thing. Your girlfriend will give you a more detailed description with details about who, what, when, where and probably even what she wore.

Just look at the differences between one Panther post and the Lion’s response. The Panther’s post is longer, more detailed and she requests other women’s input on the topic to further the dialogue. Conversely, the Lion’s response is more factual – here is an explanation for why we work that way – there you go. Every post doesn’t always follow this pattern and obviously, there is no right or wrong way to do things, but the differences are there.

You all know there are countless differences between the genders in hormones, thought processing and emotions. A recent blog by Guy Kawaski pointed out a fantastic article that discusses “How Women Work”. There are a ton of interesting facts in the article and interesting fodder for future presentations; however, it doesn’t discuss the differences in communication styles…guess they are leaving it up to me for that discussion.

So, let’s hear from you readers – what differences do you notice in your conversations with men and women? Do you believe the gender stereotypes are still prevalent or are they outdated? Do you cater to your audience’s preferences – for communication is important – or do you use a one size fits all approach?