It is said that women speak about 20,000 words a day – some 13,000 more than the average man.
It is a common observation in most homes that women talk so much they could be a nuisance to the quiet time of the men. And the man is compelled to listen as a show of love. If he doesn’t, he is guilty of lack of care and love. If he cuts the woman short or ask for a summary, haaa, a ‘civil war’ at home.
The common scenario is a man returning from work tired or worrying about something, and the woman comes in to give a situation report about something. One, the man must listen, and two, she must take all the details and side comments with love. With that, there is no ‘civil war!’
Most men like plain, undiluted reports but at home instead of a simple report like “a building has collapsed in Lekki,” they are likely to hear, “Haa, we don’t know why people have become so greedy. How would they suddenly turn a 3-story building into a 5-storey, and what was the government looking at………”
Many women know they talk much, so on the phone, they keep it short when they make the call, but when it is from the other end, they go on and on talking.
Women ask too many questions
It has also been observed that women ask too many questions. John Gray, author of the famous relationship guide Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, interviewed 100,000 male and female executives to study how gender plays a role workplace communication. Seventy-two percent of men surveyed said women ask too many questions. Some men felt these questions slowed down progress and delayed decision-making, while others felt questions were a sign that a female boss was being too controlling or critical.
“Women admitted to asking questions but felt their questions were their best contribution; needed to stimulate an exchange of ideas, to build consensus, show concern for others and help arrive at the best possible outcome. Understanding the motivation and finding value the questions rather than be annoyed by them can help to facilitate better communication between the genders and create a more balanced workplace.”
The talkative nature of women has also been confirmed in many studies. Most studies of self-reported talkativeness find women report being a little more talkative than men. In a study of 58 nations across 11 world regions; women agreed more than men did with the statement “I would describe myself as someone who is talkative” across most world regions, including Africa and East Asia.
Some Studies Say No
Some other researchers are not in a hurry to give women the talkative label.
A study by Northeastern University Professor David Lazer and his team found out that the gender who spoke more was very much depended on the setting. Indeed, men have been found to talk excitedly for a long time in the company of their friends.
Why women are the more talkative sex
But it does seem that it is no use defending the obvious. People are now more concerned about why women are the more talkative sex. A new study by University of Maryland researchers suggests that higher levels of the protein are found in the female brain.
US researchers found that those with more Foxp2, known as the ‘language protein’, in their brains were the chattier. Interestingly, the study found out that while among humans women are the more talkative, in rats it was the males.
The researchers set out to determine what might make male rats more vocal than their female cage mates by studying the number of times four-day-old pups cried out from their mothers and counted.
Both male and female pups emitted hundreds of cries, but the males called out twice as often. As a result, when the pups were put back in the same cage as their mother, she fussed over her sons first.
Tests on the parts of the brain known to be involved in vocal calls showed the male pups to have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females.
The researchers then ramped up its production in the brains of female pups and reduced it in males. This led to the female rats crying out more often and their mothers showing more interest to them.
The males in contrast, became less ‘talkative’, the Journal of Neuroscience reports.
With that concluded, the researchers tested samples from ten boys and girls aged between three and five. This showed the girls to have 30 per cent more of the Foxp2 protein than the boys, in a brain area key to language in humans.
Researcher Margaret McCarthy said: ‘Based on our observations, we postulate higher levels of Foxp2 in girls and higher levels of Foxp2 in male rats is an indication that Foxp2 protein levels are associated with the more communicative sex.’
Studies have shown that the female love of chit-chat begins at a young age. Girls learn to speak earlier and more quickly than boys. They produce their first words and sentences earlier, have larger vocabularies and use a greater variety of sentence types than boys of the same age.