Women and public speaking

The debate on labor differences between men and women is opening up more and more every day. It is undeniable that both sexes have distinctive characteristics: men, as a general rule, possess more strength and excel over women in jobs that require physical skills. This explains why male athletes tend to have better records than female athletes. In the intellectual field, the differences are very narrow. There is no solid evidence that men are smarter than women or vice versa.

Public speaking demands intellectual skills. These skills include communication, interpretation, empathy, charisma and extroversion. That said, what role do women play and what are their possibilities within the field of public speaking? In order to analyze this topic in greater depth, we will be conducting the following session.

Authority in women: One of the most well-known fallacies is that of authority. A fallacy of authority is one that occurs when an argument is dismissed on the grounds that the person making the argument is not an expert on the subject. In the field of public speaking, and as far as women are concerned, the fallacy of authority is very present. In technological and industrial topics, the female profile is not usually perceived as an authoritative profile. A woman talking about cars, technology, industrial development or any related topic may be unfairly judged due to the pre-existence of a stigma that motivates us to assign work roles to the genders.

Contrary to the examples we cited above, when talking about fashion, beauty, style, marketing, among others, women tend to present a more authoritarian profile. This fallacy is complex to demolish and pigeonholes speakers into a series of topics without taking into account the level of experience in them. On the positive side, more and more of these role separations are being broken down. This is a slow process and is being promoted to a greater extent by the younger generation. As we look forward to a scenario of greater equality in public speaking, women should not be afraid to address topics stigmatized as masculine. We must confront these prejudices with professionalism and strive to demonstrate the necessary skills and knowledge.

Image and voice: A speaker's image and voice are an essential part of his or her personal brand. Just as a film director looks for actors with a certain profile to play a character, companies look for very marked styles to address issues or promote products. An example of this can be seen in the technology sector. Almost all presentations of technological products are given by men, with a predominance of deep-voiced speakers.

Studies have shown that this type of message is better received by the audience when the speaker's voice is deep. This already puts women, who as a general rule, have a higher-pitched voice, at a disadvantage. All of the above has led some women, who occupy important positions in the technology sector or are communicators in companies in this market, to adopt and pretend to have a deeper voice than they actually have.

Conversely, within the fashion field, male speakers seek an appearance that shows more sensitivity and project a higher-pitched voice. Again we are faced with an example of the fallacy of authority, mentioned above. A speaker's voice and image will lead him to be judged in one way or another. The woman should demonstrate her knowledge and skills regardless of whether her voice is high-pitched or low-pitched. The speaker's style and image can be molded, but it is not the most important thing. The positive thing is that when a woman demonstrates competence in a given area, such banal aspects as those mentioned above cease to be important.