Outspoken
Why Women's Voices Get Silenced and How to Set Them Free
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Are you done with the mansplaining? Have you been interrupted one too many times? Don’t stop talking. Take your voice back.
Women’s voices aren’t being heard—at work, at home, in public, and in every facet of their lives. When they speak up, they’re seen as pushy, loud, and too much. When quiet, they’re dismissed as meek and mild. Everywhere they turn, they’re confronted by the assumptions of a male-dominated world.
From the Supreme Court to the conference room to the classroom, women are interrupted far more often than their male counterparts. In the lab, researchers found that female executives who speak more often than their peers are rated 14 percent less competent, while male executives who do the same enjoy a 10 percent competency bump.
In Outspoken, Veronica Rueckert—a Peabody Award–winning former host at Wisconsin Public Radio, trained opera singer, and communications coach—teaches women to recognize the value of their voices and tap into their inherent power, potential, and capacity for self-expression. Detailing how to communicate in meetings, converse around the dinner table, and dominate political debates, Outspoken provides readers with the tools, guidance, and encouragement they need to learn to love their voices and rise to the obligation to share them with the world.
Outspoken is a substantive yet entertaining analysis of why women still haven’t been fully granted the right to speak, and a guide to how we can start changing the culture of silence. Positive, instructive, and supportive, this welcome and much-needed handbook will help reshape the world and make it better for women—and for everyone. It’s time to stop shutting up and start speaking out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her delightful debut, Rueckert, voice coach and former host on Wisconsin Public Radio, explores the power and diversity of women's voices and presents a dynamic how-to guide for making those voices heard. Rueckert begins by explaining how the gender pay gap, higher number of men than women in leadership positions, and women's propensity to be interrupted in conversations are issues that can be traced back to the perceived value (or lack thereof) of women's voices in society. In response, Rueckert offers no-frills strategies (doing away with open offices, which she believes cultivates a stultifying "cubicle voice") and physical exercises (breathing techniques and tools for overcoming stage fright) that will help strengthen women's speaking voices. Pulling from personal anecdotes and academic studies, she, at times, portrays a hopeless world: talking too much at a board meeting, for instance, can cause a woman to be deemed chatty or inattentive, but talking too little can lead her to be deemed submissive. Yet, Rueckert's overall tone is optimistic. This helpful guide, filled with Rueckert's sage advice, will be a great resource for any woman struggling to find or express her voice.