Gender equality has been linked to several positive organizational outcomes, including improved overall organizational performance (Dezsö & Ross, 2012). Yet, several fields in Canada, such as technology and engineering, remain male-dominated (Statistics Canada, 2009). Men and women communicate differently, and women's communication styles are sometimes perceived as weak, particularly in male-dominated fields (Carli, 2001). Women's preference for a more communal communication style also manifests in negotiations: women are less likely to negotiate, and when they do negotiate they are less direct and ask for less than men do (Babcock & Laschever, 2003). In order to help women develop the skills they require to advance their status in male-dominated fields, the NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering delivered five negotiation skills training workshops for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in Ontario. This thesis evaluates this training program using Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick's (2006) four-level training evaluation model, with questionnaires and qualitative semi-structured follow-up interviews as the main data collection methods. Ultimately, the thesis concluded that CWSE-ON was successful in creating a training program that produced positive results at multiple levels of the Kirkpatrick model. The program was particularly effective at encouraging participants to transfer their new skills back to the workplace and actually change their negotiation behaviours. The implications of these findings for training professionals is explored in depth.

This dissertation investigates the interaction of gender and party in the political communication of members of Congress (MCs). The study focuses on the tweets of all MCs in the House of Representatives during two weeks of the 114th Congress (9,374 tweets from 431 MCs). I conduct an in-depth content analysis of these tweets to extract important message characteristics related to issue areas, electoral behaviors, and constituency targeting. I find that MCs emphasize their partisan ties when they tweet about women’s or men’s issues, but Democratic congresswomen and Republican congressmen go further to address feminine and masculine issue areas respectively. In their electoral behaviors, congresswomen posted more advertising tweets than congressmen, especially Republican congresswomen. Republican congresswomen took individual credit for legislation at high rates and shared very little, while Democratic congresswomen shared credit almost as much as they took individual credit. Furthermore, while both Democratic and Republican congresswomen see themselves as “surrogate representatives” (Carroll 2000) of the women beyond the boundaries of their districts, Democratic congresswomen target national constituencies significantly more often than their colleagues. These results provide evidence that gender is not enough to understand how MCs communicate – the key lies at the nexus of gender and partisanship.

This study focuses on the conununication strategies of women principals in secondary schools. It highlights the role of conununication in management by examining the purpose of conununication, communication process, barriers to effective communication and the types of communication, which are verbal and nonverbal communication. The study, further highlights that communication in management may be affected by the differences in communication styles of women and men. It further shows that while differences in communicative styles can be attributed to many factors, socialisation into gender positions is a major factor that leads to gender communication differences. Though socialisation is one of the factors shaping communication of men and women, post-structuralists also argue that children who are socialised are not just passive recipients. During socialisation each person is active in taking up discourses through which she or he is shaped. The socialisation, starts at home, then to school and also the community. Children develop sex-appropriate speech in different communities. A single case study explored the conununication strategies of a woman principal in the Northern Province, South Africa. Reputational sampling was used for the selection of the participants and site. Data gathering was done by means of interviews [with the principal and six teachers], observation and document analysis. Findings suggest that a woman principal's communication is shaped by the context in which she is a woman, mother, wife, African, educational manager and as an individual with her own unique personality. Women managers in rural contexts experience cultural barriers to communication as women are not expected to talk much and should appear to know little in the presence of men. Women are also not supposed to conununicate non-verbally by keeping eye contact, using more space and using facial expression. In this study, a woman manager emerges as a good communicator who overcomes cultural barriers by even practicing what is not traditionally acceptable. The woman principal prefers personal encounters as channels of communication and as an African, she overcomes language barriers by using mother-tongue when speaking with staff and students. In general. this study found that the woman principal preferred human-oriented communication strategies, and endeavoured to conquer cultural barriers to communication. / Educational Leadership and Management / D.Ed. (Educational Management)

This study focuses on the conununication strategies of women principals in secondary schools. It highlights the role of conununication in management by examining the purpose of conununication, communication process, barriers to effective communication and the types of communication, which are verbal and nonverbal communication. The study, further highlights that communication in management may be affected by the differences in communication styles of women and men. It further shows that while differences in communicative styles can be attributed to many factors, socialisation into gender positions is a major factor that leads to gender communication differences. Though socialisation is one of the factors shaping communication of men and women, post-structuralists also argue that children who are socialised are not just passive recipients. During socialisation each person is active in taking up discourses through which she or he is shaped. The socialisation, starts at home, then to school and also the community. Children develop sex-appropriate speech in different communities. A single case study explored the conununication strategies of a woman principal in the Northern Province, South Africa. Reputational sampling was used for the selection of the participants and site. Data gathering was done by means of interviews [with the principal and six teachers], observation and document analysis. Findings suggest that a woman principal's communication is shaped by the context in which she is a woman, mother, wife, African, educational manager and as an individual with her own unique personality. Women managers in rural contexts experience cultural barriers to communication as women are not expected to talk much and should appear to know little in the presence of men. Women are also not supposed to conununicate non-verbally by keeping eye contact, using more space and using facial expression. In this study, a woman manager emerges as a good communicator who overcomes cultural barriers by even practicing what is not traditionally acceptable. The woman principal prefers personal encounters as channels of communication and as an African, she overcomes language barriers by using mother-tongue when speaking with staff and students. In general. this study found that the woman principal preferred human-oriented communication strategies, and endeavoured to conquer cultural barriers to communication. / Educational Leadership and Management / D.Ed. (Educational Management)