a question -- hearing what women have to say

[Amy Sheldon]

The following excerpt from a recent NYTimes.com Magazine article  
titled, "The Place of Women on the [U. S. Supreme] Court" is of  
interest for the point that Justice Ruth Ginsberg makes about men not  
hearing [tuning out?] women's comments ---  voices --- in a  
professional setting.  This issue has come up before on this list.   
And it seems relevant to the issue of under-representation of women  
in leadership positions.     Amy Sheldon

" Q: You are said to have very warm relationships with your  
colleagues. And so I was surprised to read a comment you made in an  
interview in May with Joan Biskupic of USA Today. You said that when  
you were a young lawyer, your voice was often ignored, and then a  
male colleague would repeat a point you’d made, and other people  
would be alert to it. And then you said this still happens now at  
conference.
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Not often. It was a routine thing [in the past]  
that I would say something and it would just pass, and then somebody  
else would say almost the same thing and people noticed. I think the  
idea in the 1950s and ’60s was that if it was a woman’s voice, you  
could tune out, because she wasn’t going to say anything  
significant. There’s much less of that. But it still exists, and  
it’s not a special experience that I’ve had. I’ve talked to  
other women in high places, and they've had the same experience.

Q: I wonder if that would change if there were more women who were  
part of the mix on the court?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: I think it undoubtedly would. You can imagine in  
Canada, where [Beverly] McLachlin is the chief [justice of the  
Supreme Court of Canada], I think they must have a different way of  
hearing a woman’s voice if she is the leader."


On Jul 12, 2009, at 7:16 AM, Cecilia E. Ford wrote:

> Virginia Valian's 1999 book, Why So Slow,has a chapter reviewing  
> social psych. research revealing bias in the evaluation of women  
> vs. men. In most cases, other variables were controlled for. Such  
> findings complicate any claims that women's fear contributes to our  
> underrepresentation in leadership positions.
> Ceci Ford
>
> Mills, Sara wrote:
>> Try Judith Baxter's Speaking Out: The Female Voice in Public  
>> Contexts, Plagrave 2006
>> Sara Mills
>> ________________________________
>> From: International Gender and Language Association [GALA- 
>> L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Bettina Derpanopoulou  
>> [bet_leo at YAHOO.GR]
>> Sent: 07 July 2009 14:27
>> To: GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
>> Subject: [GALA-L] a question
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I am a new Member of the list. I am currently writing my thesis  
>> about whether the fear of public speaking is a reason why women  
>> are under-represented in field of politics and other power-holding  
>> positions. Does anyone know whether there is a literature that  
>> answers this question?
>>
>> Thank you very much in advance,
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>>
>> Bettina
>>
>>
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