Supporting Women’s Voices from Staff Meetings to the Board Room Let her finish Supporting Women’s Voices from Staff Meetings to the Board Room

So it happens to all of us SXSW Gender & Diversity Panel – Google Exec Chair Schmidt repeatedly interrupted U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith, the sole female panelist on stage with him during the talk. Then, he was reprimanded by an audience member, Judith Williams, who also happened to be Google’s global diversity manager. Studies from 1975 showed men were responsible for 48/49 conversation interruptions. Study in 2015 found that men not only interrupted twice as often as women, they were 3 times as likely to interrupt a woman. Australian study findings include: women don’t speak as much without interruption as men. of 311 interruptions that questioned a speaker's authority and credibility, 213 were directed towards women. female witnesses were called emotional, unreasonable or words to similar effect 163 times, and 120 of these comments were made by men.   women were more likely to be punished for their interruptions, than their male peers, by the chair during public hearings.

Nevertheless, she persisted Most recently, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) was officially silenced while reading a letter on the senate floor. The letter, authored by Coretta Scott King, was read into the Congressional record in 1986 by Ted Kennedy (D-MA). The 30 year old letter directly addressed the topic at hand, the ability of Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to support the civil rights of all Americans. Think it’s an example of politics and not sexism? Four other senators were allowed to read the letter, all or in part just hours after Sen. Mitch McConnell silenced Senator Warren. Do you know what they all have in common?

A No Interruption Policy YEARS ago, while producing the hit TV series “The Shield,” Glen Mazzara noticed that two young female writers were quiet during story meetings. He pulled them aside and encouraged them to speak up more. Watch what happens when we do, they replied. Almost every time they started to speak, they were interrupted or shot down before finishing their pitch. When one had a good idea, a male writer would jump in and run with it before she could complete her thought. He found a clever way to change the dynamics that were holding those two female employees back. He announced to the writers that he was instituting a no-interruption rule while anyone — male or female — was pitching. It worked, and he later observed that it made the entire team more effective.

So they came up with a plan Women working for the Obama White House complained they weren’t being let into important meetings. When they were, they were ignored. Once they had a seat at the table, they brought more women into the discussion. Female staffers adopted a meeting strategy they called “amplification”: When a woman made a key point, other women would repeat it, giving credit to its author. This forced the men in the room to recognize the contribution — and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own.

10 words every woman should learn “Stop interrupting me.”  “I just said that.” “No explanation needed.”

Yeah, it happens all the time

References http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/opinion/sunday/speaking-while- female.html?_r=0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9soYj3O4Ud8 http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/03/19/google-chief- blasted-for-repeatedly-interrupting-female-government-official/ http://www.womensagenda.com.au/talking-about/editors- agenda/item/7525-men-interrupting-women http://www.nextions.com/wp- content/files_mf/142850844520150415ManterruptionsBropropriationandManspl aining2YPS.pdf