Janet Holmes '' Women Talk Too Much'

In “Women Talk Too Much,” Janet Holmes challenges the stereotypical belief that women speak more than men. Janet believes that men and women have different speaking patterns during formal and public situations. In these situations, Janet believes men speak more than women. Women speak more in relaxed and informal conversations. Janet also said, how well a person knows a topic determines how much they will speak on it. Speech patterns for men and women are influenced by formal and informal conversations, perceptions and implications, and social confidence in everyday conversations. Whether a conversation is formal or informal plays a huge part in men and women’s speech patterns. Janet mentions that research done by American, British, and New Zealand researchers revealed that men spoke more than women during committee meetings, staff meetings, seminars, and task-oriented decision-making groups (Holmes 262). This is true, especially when it comes to politics. During formal speeches there are more men talking than women. This perception of men holding more power gives the men the ability to dominate. This is why there are not many women holding these types of

Janet examined the reason why girls contributed less than boys in school. Janet said,” Talking in class was often perceived as showing off, especially if it was girl-talk” (Holmes, 265). In the article, it showed that teachers did not notice the gender discrimination until a recording was made. When studies had girls and boys contribute more equally, the male teachers believed that the girls spoke more. The boys in the class also believed that the girls talked too much. This shows that if men are not dominating the situation, then it is not good enough. This reflects how society views women. Talking is a powerful tool to get messages and points across and men do not want women to be given any power over