Worksheet 28

	What's Your Gender Communications Quotient?

How much do you know about how men and women communicate with one another? The 20 items in this questionnaire are based on research conducted in classrooms, private homes, businesses, offices, hospitals--the places where people commonly work and socialize. The answers are at the end of this quiz.

1.	Men talk more than women.
2.	Men are more likely to interrupt women than they are to interrupt other men.
3.	There are approximately ten times as many sexual terms for males as females in the English language.
4.	During conversations, women spend more time gazing at their partner than men do.
5.	Nonverbal messages carry more weight than verbal messages.
6.	Female managers communicate with more emotional openness and drama than male managers.
7.	Men not only control the content of conversations, but they also work harder in keeping conversations going.
8.	When people hear generic words such as "mankind" and "he," they respond inclusively, indicating that the terms apply to both sexes.
9.	Women are more likely to touch others than men are.
10.	In classroom communications, male students receive more reprimands and criticism than female students.
11.	Women are more likely than men to disclose information on intimate personal concerns.
12.	Female speakers are more animated in their conversational style than are male speakers.
13.	Women use less personal space than men.
14.	When a male speaks, he is listened to more carefully than a female speaker, even when she makes the identical presentation.
15.	In general, women speak in a more tentative style than do men.
16.	Women are more likely to answer questions that are not addressed to them.
17.	There is widespread sex segregation in schools, and it hinders effective classroom communication.
18.	Female managers are seen by both male and female subordinates as better communicators than male managers.
19.	In classroom communications, teachers are more likely to give verbal praise to females than to male students.
20.	In general, men smile more often than women.

Answers: 1. T; 2. T; 3. F; 4. T; 5. T; 6-9. F; 10-15. T; 16. F; 17. T; 18. T; 19. F; 20. F

SOURCE: Rozema, H. R., Ph. D., and J. W. Gray, Ph. D., Department of Communication, University of Arkansas, Little Rock. Used with permission.

Copyright © 2004 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.