Pamela Fishman

Pamela Fishman

Pamela Fishman argues that the conversation between sexes sometimes fails because of the way men respond or if they don’t respond. She says women ask questions to get a response from men. She argues that women have to do most of the ‘conversational shitwork’ when having a conversation with men. She says the differences in men and women’s conversational behaviour is caused by their expectations as men are seen to be more dominant.

Experiment:

Pamela Fishman did an experiment that involved listening to fifty-two hours of pre - recorded conversations between young American couples. 5 out of 6 subjects were attending graduate school. All subjects were either feminists or sympathetic to the women’s movement, were white, between the ages of 25 and 35. She listened to recordings and focused on two characteristics common in women’s dialect, including tag questions such as: “you know?” 

 She states that women frequently ask tag questions following a thought or suggestion. She says tag questions are an effective method of maintaining conversation and gaining conversational power for women rather than lacking conversation. She says women feel the need to ask questions when they are having a conversation with males as they don’t respond to declarative statements or their response is minimal. 

Feminism

What are the rise and effects on first and second wave feminism?

 

First – Wave Feminism

First – wave feminism was around in the 19^th and 20^th century, the same time as the war and the suffragettes. mainly focused on legal issues such as gaining women suffrage (The right to vote). Women were given the right to vote in 1928.

Marriage was rising and the number of men and women staying single was increasing. Women formed intense friendships with each other that helped to sustain the activism of the first – wave feminism as they were only focused on getting the right to vote.

Second – Wave Feminism

Second – wave feminism began during the 1960’s/70’s, mainly focusing on dismantling workplace inequality which gave women the freedom to have a career.

The way women were being shown in the media was having an impact on their life chances. Second-wave feminism broadened the debate to a wide range of issues.

Laws have been changed. The birth control pill was invented giving women freedom to careers. They had access to better jobs and salary inequity, through anti-discrimination laws.