In the interesting article “He Said, She Said: Gender-Typical Speech Can Sour Teamwork” by Joanna Wolfe and Elizabeth Powell, researchers examine the communication differences between genders that may contribute to women leaving engineering disciplines at higher rates than men. Negative interactions reported by women during teamwork experiences tend to lead to self-doubt about whether engineering is a good fit, and the purpose of this research was to examine everyday exchanges that may influence this perception.

This study was conducted through surveys given to 522 undergrads in engineering and other disciplines that asked for feedback on different team interaction scenarios. The results show that engineering men have low tolerance and impatience with the female-typical behaviors of admitting mistakes, showing weakness, or engaging in self-belittlement, regardless of which gender is displaying this behavior. “This trend was most pronounced among students majoring in mechanical and computer engineering and least present in bioengineering and industrial engineering, the latter two being disciplines with comparatively high levels of female enrollment.” Interestingly, other groups outside of engineering found male-typical behaviors more bothersome.  Across the board, however, participants in all groups expressed annoyance at aggressive acts/communication of self-promotion.

Bottom line from the article: “Based on this research, engineering educators might coach female students to avoid self-belittling discourse and teach all students to avoid aggressive displays of self-promotion. Such coaching might not only help women and other ‘at risk’ groups fit into an engineering community but might also improve the interpersonal skills of all engineering students.”

Your thoughts?

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