Writing Together: Gender's Effect on Collaboration

Louise Rehling San Francisco State University

Abstract

Recent studies identify gendered differences in communication and collaboration styles which suggest consequences for professional writing classrooms. If, indeed, men tend to stereotype women as clerks, prefer hierarchical collaboration, and value product over process, and, too, if gendered differences tend to increase counterproductive dissent, then the gender balance of writing groups might affect their dominant styles in those respects. However, when I analyzed the behaviors of over sixty student groups in my professional writing classes, I did not find gender balancing to have such effects. Instead, however, I observed other gender-related effects on collaboration: tendencies to stereotype men as technical experts and to self-segregate into gendered working teams. These findings suggest new perspectives on the role of gender for collaborative groups in professional writing classrooms.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1996-04-01
DOI
10.2190/xdca-www0-v9fn-y4u9
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (10)

  1. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 10 →
  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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