Abstract

This paper highlights the extent of women marginalization through silencing their voices at workplaces in the Pashtun society. Using the construct “muted group” theory a qualitative study of the participants with ages between 25 and 32 at Abdul Wali Khan Universy, Mardan (Pakistan) was undertaken. The analysis of response reveals that both males and females work equally, share equal work load, and can perform their duties well together. It is significant that despite the appearance of unbiased equal treatment to males and females the societal biases effect a reality that is contradictory to the façade of equality. The study established that males make use of authoritative language because of which females feel reluctant to share their thoughts openly due to the fear of being rejected at the work place. They conform to male domination and in this way appease the macho ego of males. Moreover, females are often made fun of when they talk; consequently they choose to remain silent. This marginalization explains why men think that women cannot share their thoughts clearly or cannot speak logically without realizing that there is something wrong with the way they deal with women.  

Key Words

Gender Discrimination, Feminism, Muted Group Theory, Discrimination, Work Place, Pashtun. 

Introduction

The purpose of the present study is to dig deeper into the issue of females being marginalized at the work place with the help of muted group theory. This issue is more prevalent in Pashtun society. Since ages, fixed norms and traditions have been followed up. Females are mostly confined to the boundaries of their houses. All they are expected to do is to learn house chores, get married at a young age, give birth to babies and take care of their husbands and children. Though this trend is changing gradually but old societal structures can still be seen at places where blind followers of the suppressive tradition continue it as hallmark of Pashtun culture. Preventing a culture from decay is a requirement, but when it benefits only few, leaving others, then such preventive measures become regressive. Similarly, the issue of gender discrimination and social injustice with females is deep rooted. As trends are changing, females are getting more opportunities to perform parallel roles to men, but due to some fixed norms, females still face difficulties while working in a place where males dominate it. Since ages, Pashtun society has been a male dominant society. Women, who work in organizations or anywhere else where they have to work with men, struggle really hard to be accepted by the male staff. Muted group theory explains the same thing. Tiger (2007), talks about Edwin Ardener’s short essay “Belief and the Problem of Women” in which Ardener explained males as “a special” group and female as “generalized” group. He says that Ardener was the first to propose this theory. The views of the ethnographers at his time about females were that females “giggle when young, snort when old, reject the question, laugh at the topic and generally make life difficult for scholars trained in the scientific (Masculine) method of inquiry” (p. 37). This theory can be associated with the feminist theory because the objectives of this theory and that of the feminist theory are basically the same. Feminism speaks for the overall rights of women whereas Muted Group Theory talks in terms of right to speak. There are many ways of muting but Kramarae focuses on the structure and use of language. Kramarae explains in Griffin (2012), that language etiquette is a man-made construction which means that language is created by man and for man. Women are generally found inarticulate in public; it is because women live their lives inside their homes, taking care of their children and husbands, so they are considered fit for private life only. As men are normally concerned with the world outside, they shape and run the whole society according to their needs and experiences, ignoring half of the population, which is of women. Men are privileged outside i.e. in Public, so they consider it their right to be superior to the other group i.e women. Griffin (2012) says that “Kramarae seeks to unmask the systematic silencing of feminine voice”. (p.462) He also says that her research gives reasons for “why women are muted and what can be done to loosen men’s lock on public mode of communication” (p.461).

Furthermore, “Women are not as free or as able as men are to say what they wish, because the words and the norms for their use have been formulated by the dominant group, men” (Kramarae cited in Griffin, 2012). Males being dominant group design language in such a way that in the end, it is nothing else but a male-biased language. It places men in a privileged position. Griffin (2012) says that according to Kramarae “Women’s words are discounted in our society; women’ thoughts are devalued. When women try to overcome this inequality, the masculine control of communication places them at a tremendous disadvantage.” (p.460).

Women face difficulties at places where men and women work together. They get marginalized and are treated differently.  This phenomenon can be seen at different places in Pashtun society, but our aim is to explore this issue at work place. 

Research Methodology

Keeping in view the nature of the research, the authors used qualitative mode of inquiry. Qualitative methods were chosen because this research has nothing to do with numerical data rather it deals with learning the complexity of perceptions and muted behavior. This paper aims to:

1. Explore, how far women are marginalized at work places in Pashtun society.

2. Find, to what extent females’ voices are silenced due to their marginalization.




Population and Sampling




The aim was to select an organization from Pashtun society where the impact of society is seen on the organization. Male and female participants were selected from Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan. A total of 25 participants were selected for this purpose. Men and women working in the same position were selected with a goal of reaching those who experience gender discrimination. Their ages ranged from 25-32. 




Tools




This study used open-ended questionnaires for collecting data regarding females’ place in the work place and that how they are treated. Open-ended questionnaires were distributed amongst teachers of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan. The purpose of conducting such questionnaires was to know their perceptions regarding the said issue. Questionnaires consisted of 8 questions. All of the questions were based on the issue of females being marginalized at the work place. The questions were designed to help the writers in achieving the stated objectives of the study.




Data Analysis




For data analysis, content analysis technique was used. Analysis was done to find the underlying meaning of the responses received in the open-ended questionnaires. Textual analysis utilized the concept of Muted Group Theory.

Literature Review

Edwin Ardener, in his essay “belief and the problem of women”, introduced Muted Group Theory, and explored the problem of woman. He presented two parts of the problem; one technical and another analytical. (Tiger, 2007, p. 37) 

Half of the population of Pashtun society comprises females but this fact is often ignored, and when it comes to the distribution of rights, especially, the right to speak, this half cease to exist. Thus, females often get muted. What Ardener proposed was that society is dominated in most cases by males because they shape the society. The linguistic structures, they provide to the society are structured according to their own experiences and how they perceive everything. Therefore, if the perception of the society is male-based, the structure provided by male group is the dominant structure. "In these terms if the male perception yields a dominant structure, the female one is a muted structure" (Ardener cites in Lewin, 2009).

Women perceive the world differently from men because of women’s and men’s different experiences and activities rooted in the division of labor (Kramarae, 1981). That’s the reason that women see the world differently from men and vice versa. In Pashtun society females were confined to their houses. They were not allowed to work like men, outside. So their language and perceptions are, to a huge extent based on what they experience in their private lives.

The muting process is a socially shared phenomenon that presupposes a collective understanding of who is in power and who is not (Gendrin, 2000, p.203).  If the issue of power in Pashtun society is taken in account, almost complete power lies in the hands of men, because Pashtun society is a male dominant society. Power is not distributed equally. Some of the groups are privileged over others due to unequal distribution of power. Privileging dominant group or the group that is in power, let the subordinate group remain silenced or muted.

In a male-dominant society, marginalized groups need to communicate in such a manner that represents not what they have experienced but what the dominant group experience. Thus the uniqueness of such experiences to the subordinate group makes it difficult for them to express effectively within the confinements of the dominant group communication system (Orbe, 1998, p.21). Women in Pashtun society are now changing the trends that have been there since ages; they are getting education to do jobs just like men. So when they start doing jobs in organization where men also work, life becomes even more difficult for them. In this regard Kramarae (2005) says:

“People attached or assigned to subordinate groups may have a lot to say, but they tend to have relatively little power to say it without getting into a lot of trouble. Their speech is disrespected by those in the dominant positions; their knowledge is not considered sufficient for public decision-making or policy making processes of that culture; their experiences are interpreted for them by others; and they are encouraged to see themselves as represented in the dominant discourse” (p.55).

People often get muted or marginalized by those who are in power. Certain communication strategies can be used by non-dominant group i.e., females while communicating with the dominant group. Orbe, (1996) says that “One strategy is the use of respectful communication to intentionally avoid being perceived as threatening or too assertive” 

Different situations in Pashtun society can be explained through Muted Group Theory, where one group is muted or silenced at the hands of the one with more power. Females are often made marginalized or are bullied at work places or in an organization but they cannot speak a word about it because they don’t have power to do so. Nathali Kyla S. Gandler, (2014) in her research paper explains muted group theory in relation to sexual harassment at workplaces. She discusses about how females are harassed by men in work places whether it be verbally or otherwise and how they are silenced and muted. No matter how badly they are treated, they can’t speak out openly because they don’t want to get fired from their jobs. She also mentions that out of helplessness they often remain quiet. Often they do talk directly to the person who does harm to them but they are often ridiculed thus making them silenced or muted forever. 

Women and men work together at work places. If the manager or the head of the department is a male then females are suppressed and they don’t have the courage to say what they truly want to say. So for this purpose they decode their language in order to be accepted in the society having norms, created by men. Lapchitz (2012), explains in detail in his research, how women practice language in work place where they perceive themselves as muted. He discusses about how this perceived muteness affects their perceptions and the techniques they use to modify the communication practices. He says that females use more affiliated or relational communication as compared to men. 

According to Lapchitz (2012) relational practices exist both in face-to-face as well as email-communication but as perceived muteness increases, relational communication efforts decrease. Women who feel the highest level of muteness, no longer try to adapt to the dominant discourse; they choose to silence themselves. His findings indicate a new perspective on one aspect of muted group theory, which holds that subordinate groups assimilate to the dominant group’s communication norms. In other words, the subordinate group females, acquire the linguistic norms provided by the dominant group males, in order to be heard by them. 

Another technique that has been introduced to make the marginalized group survive freely among dominant group is that of communication through emails. But researchers don’t find it a perfect solution to eradicate the problem of silencing the subordinate group. Kissack (2012) in his research paper talks about muteness of female voice that occurs within written organizational computer-mediated communication. He defines two terms for language used by males and females respectively. One is female preferential language structure and other is male preferential language structure. The former is a type of language that is used by the non-dominant group (females) and the later refers to the language used by the dominant group (males). He says that muteness of female-preferential voice occurs due to female-preferential language structures being unrecognized due to the dominant, masculine language system. What he wanted to prove was that muteness of females not only occurs in face to face interaction but also within computer-mediated communication, which is often considered a mean to equalize the gender differences in work places.

In reaction to the perceived muteness, sometimes subordinate group chooses to resist against muteness and sometimes they just start accepting everything silently. Which does not affect them after some time is passed. And finally, they consider it completely wrong to speak for their own rights or to speak against the tyranny of the dominant group. So is the case with Pashtun culture. Females have been trained as such for centuries that when they speak for their rights, they consider it a huge crime. Muted group theory has been applied at work places in different context, but not much work has been done on the application of this theory in Pashtun culture. The authors assume that gender discrimination and muting the subordinate group is more common in Pashtun culture.

Analysis

Though language is a means of communication that is to convey what you really want to say but people never speak up their minds fully. Speech is molded in order to keep the conversation according to the needs and purposes. Some mould it to hide their weaknesses while others do it because of the fear of those in power. In this section, authors discuss how the written response of the respondents reveals the true meanings. Here, the data is analyzed according to the questions given in questionnaire and responses to each question are presented and critical comments and discussion relevant to those responses are made accordingly. Each item/question of the questionnaire is followed by some explanation of the response and context. 




What are the responsibilities of males and females in a society?




In response to this question most of the females had the same views. What they said was that females are responsible only to take care of their family and males are responsible to support their family financially. For example one of the females said, “As a woman I take responsibility of my children and my house, their grooming, brought up etc. whereas the responsibility of males is to take care of their family financially and provide security” Likewise another female said, “Males should be supportive to the basic needs of their family.” Similarly one of them said, “My responsibility is to take care of my family while males are responsible to support their family.” 

The difference that was observed in the views of males and females was that most of the male respondents considered society and culture to be responsible for defining responsibilities for males and female members of the society. For example one of the male respondents said, “Well, basically we are living in a gendered society where the roles and responsibilities of both the sexes are determined by set of norms.” Similarly the other said, “Culture is the best teacher of learning the responsibilities. At childhood the responsibilities are equal and the same but from puberty onwards the responsibilities differ for each sex” One of them said, “As males are the leaders of the society so they need to be bold enough to take challenges everywhere.” Whereas another says “As supported by religion and culture of Pukhtoons accordingly.”

Some of the male respondent said that their responsibility is to provide financial support to their family. Two of the male respondents replied differently. One said “I don’t take any responsibility because responsibilities bound you to a limit and I like freedom.” The other said “As a male, to be a good Muslim, a good human being, to save humanity and to work for my family, friends and country.”

As mentioned clearly in the answers of the respondents that men mostly have the responsibilities related to the world outside home and they are more concerned with the society, so they shape it according to their needs and then, when It comes to assigning females their responsibilities, they consider society and culture responsible for restricting females inside the boundaries of their houses.

What was the reason for choosing the job you are currently doing and was it your priority or because of socio-cultural constraints?

Most of the female came up with the same views about the choices, they made about their career in life. They said that the job they are currently doing was their priority. Nobody forced or imposed them. As one of the female respondents said, “I chose this job because it was my priority” Three of the female respondents replied differently. They said that they chose it because the job they are doing is suitable for females.  As one of them said, “It is my choice because it is good and respectful profession especially for females.”

The response of most of the male respondents to this question was that they chose this job because of socio-cultural constraint and because it was the need of their life.  Just as one of them said, “We can do any job but the present job is because of my social problems.” Similarly another male respondent said, “I chose this job because of socio-cultural constraints.” 

Whereas few of the respondents said that they chose this job because it was their choice and no one forced them to do so. One of the respondents replied differently and said that he chose it because of his parents.

From the response of female respondents it became clear that females are not given respect everywhere and not every job is suitable for them. So they choose the job where they feel secured and are given respect. While from the response of male respondents it can be seen that males are concerned more about societal needs and limitations. In order to be on the top of everything they need to fulfill the needs of the society first. Only then they will be able to run it accordingly.

Have you ever felt being marginalized?

In response to this question, half of the male respondents straight away replied with a big No. They said that they never felt being marginalized in the place they work. For example one of them said, “No I never felt being marginalized.” While another male respondent said, “Sometime I felt being marginalized but as a male it’s not a big problem in place of working. The other half said that they sometimes do get marginalized by their seniors or head of the department. As one of them said, “Sometimes, somewhere it feels that seniors are marginalizing us by not giving us the respect we deserve” Similarly another male respondent said, “Yes, So many times by the head of the department.”

In response to this question most of the female respondents said that they don’t get marginalized and they are treated equally. Whereas some of the female respondents said that they do get marginalized in the place they work. As one the female respondents said, “Sometimes, when male faculty was not given courses in other departments and females were asked to teach there or when females were given extra load of work.” Similarly one of them said, “Yes, I do feel marginalized sometimes.” Likewise another female respondent said, “Yes, It hurts a lot, especially in the place I work.”

From a very clear response to this question, it can be observed that the ratio of being marginalized and not being marginalized in both male and female respondents is almost the same. As most of them said that they don’t feel being marginalized but from the responses of some of the male and female respondents it can be seen that males mostly get marginalized by their seniors. Whereas in the responses of female respondents, no particular group has been mentioned .So it cannot be figured out who actually marginalize them. Males have the power to speak how they feel but when it comes to females they can’t speak out their thoughts clearly because of the fear of the society and male dominance. 

How should a woman dress if she has to work among men?




In response to this question, most of the female respondents were of the opinion that women should dress decently and in a proper way if they have to work among men. For example, one of the females said, “Females should dress in a decent and simple way.” Similarly, another female respondent said, “Among men, in a working place, we should dress simply in a proper way and should avoid makeup.” Likewise one of them said, Dress in such a way that they are fully covered.” Two of the female respondents said that females should fully cover themselves or wear Hijab. One of the females replied differently, she was of the opinion that it depends totally on self-perception and comfort. As she said, “Dress modestly I guess and she should wear whatever makes her feel comfortable.”

In response to this question, most of the male respondents said that females should dress as per defined by religion Islam. As one of the male respondent said, “If females have to work among men so they should dress as guided by religion.” Likewise another male respondent informed, “Among men females should be in a proper dress as Islam orders them.” Similarly one of them said, “As per religion and Pukhtoon culture.” Some of the male respondents said that females should fully cover themselves so that males do not get attracted towards them. For example one of them said, “Female workers should wear a simple dress and should not wear makeup because it creates problems for both males and females.” Whereas only few of them said that females should dress as they wish. As one of them said “I think females should dress according to their choice or anything that suits them.”

From the responses of female respondents, it can be seen that females prefer to wear simple and decent dresses, if they have to work among men. What it shows is that they can’t dress according to their wish in the place they work because they know that if they do so, the consequences won’t be good. The responses of male respondents show that they also want females to dress decently and in a simple way but they consider religion and culture responsible for defining the dress codes for females. It has been observed that males never want to get blamed. So they make religion and culture responsible in order to avoid the fact that only because of males, females don’t dress according to their own choice and comfort. 

Do you think the head of the department should always be a male?

In response to this question most of the male respondents said that only males can be the head of the department. For example one of the male respondents said, “Yes, because he may take more responsibilities than a woman may take.” Similarly another male respondent said, “Yes, head of the department should always be a male because females are not suitable. Some said that males are more responsible, while others simply said that males are better than females. As one of them said, “Yes, because in Islam, male is better than female.” While another respondent said, “Yes, because males take every step with full confidence and they don’t need any support.” Some of the male respondents said that anyone can be the head of the department and it depends totally on competency and capability rather than on gender differences. As one of them said, “It’s not compulsory that head of the department should always be a male, anyone who is capable should be head of the department.”

In response to this question most of the female respondents said that it depends totally on merit and it has nothing to do with the gender. For example one of the female respondents said, “No, the head of the department should have good qualities of a leader or manager. It doesn’t make a difference whether it’s a male or female.” Similarly another female respondent said, “I don’t think it’s necessary because a woman too can manage her department well.” Whereas some of the female respondents said that the head of department should always be a male. As one of them said, “Yes, it’s necessary because a male can handle his department properly.” Likewise another female respondent said, “The head of the department should always be a male, because males are good administrators, bold and best manager.” One of the female respondent said, “It doesn’t matter. As long as he/she is taking care of my rights, I’ll be fine with it.”

After observing the views of males it can be said that males think they are better than females when it comes to management and leadership, and they think religion also defines them so. Only some of them said that it depends on competency. Females also had the same views but the ratio was different. Most of them were of the view that it depends on who can manage well. Whereas some said that males are better. So it can be said that the idea of power should lie with men only, is deep rooted in our culture in such a way that it has affected both males and females. Males think they are superior and can control people who are under them. Likewise, Females have accepted it as a norm of the society to obey them.




The sixth question asked from them was: What are the things that irritate you the most while talking to the opposite sex?




In response to this question most of the females were of the view that it irritates them when males do not give proper attention to what females have got to say and make fun of what they say. For example one of the female respondents said, “When I am talking seriously and they are not taking it seriously rather make fun of it then I have to stop conversation and try to be careful next time.” Similarly another female respondent said, “I get irritated when they do unnecessary interruption without even listening.” Some of the female respondents said that they get irritated when they are pressurized or disrespected. For example one of them said, “While talking to the opposite sex, I get irritated when they enforce and pressurize females.” While the other said, “When they disrespect, it is the most irritating thing. So the best solution is to avoid talking to them.” Whereas one of them said, “Anything that is not related to my job will irritate me. I avoid it by not getting frank with them.”

In response to this question, most of male respondents said that they get irritated when they are not given respect because females think that all men are the same. Some of them said that when females talk irrelevantly or in an illogical way. For example one of the male respondents said, “Their non-respective behavior, irrelevant and illogical talking and their arrogance irritate me.” Few of them said that they get irritated when females don’t talk openly. As one of them said, “The hesitation of females to discuss things openly irritates me”. Another male respondent said, that he feels irritated “When females forget who they are and when they don’t remember their margins.”

As mentioned above, males don’t often listen to females because they are of the view that females talk illogically. Some of females mentioned that males make fun of females when they talk. So how will a female talk openly if she is made fun of? That’s the reason female choose to remain silent, as mentioned in the responses. So it can be concluded that males talk to females in such a way that doesn’t let females to speak openly. 

Do you oppose such concept as “women should not speak in the presence of men” If so why?

In response to this question, most of the females had the same views. They strongly opposed the statement and said that females should speak because everybody has got their own opinions. As one of the female respondents said, “It doesn’t make sense that a woman would be stopped of speaking just because of gender.” Another female respondent said, “Everyone has the right to speak so this concept is wrong.” 

Most of the male respondents said that females should speak in the presence of men. But some of them replied differently. For example one of them said, “Yes I oppose this concept but time and location is important. So it means that females should not speak according to their own wish. They will speak only when the time and location is suitable. Another male respondent said, “I love to listen to them when they speak logically.” It shows that according to males, females don’t talk logically. They listen to them when they feel that something logical is being spoken. Otherwise they don’t even listen to them. Likewise one of them said, “Women should speak to men but in a socially appropriate language.” Now it can clearly be seen that males allow female to talk only when the language, time and location is suitable and according to the wish of males. When females talk in their own way, their language is called illogical. The eighth question asked from them was:




If you were given opportunity to change one thing about Pashtun culture, what would that thing be and why?




In response to this question, most of the male respondents had the same views. They said that if they wanted to bring any change that would be to educate our people. One of the male respondents said, “Females education should be given more value for it helps in developing country and social life.” Similarly another male respondent said, “Pashtun culture is good but people need to be educated so that they achieve good and respectable place in the world.” Whereas some of them said that they would like to do something about gender discrimination issue. As one of them said “One thing that needs to be brought in the form of change is to give females freedom so they can go out and do jobs.” One of the male respondents who replied differently said: “I don’t want changes in Pashtun culture because if changes are brought then female will have to face problems like sexual harassment etc.”

In response to this question, most of the female respondents said that they would change the mentality of men, primarily their views on women. As one of them said “I would like to change the minds of uneducated males about working ladies.” Some of the female respondents pointed out issue about gender inequality which should be changed about Pukhtoon culture. One of them said, “Male dominancy is okay but they should not underestimate female potentials.” Another female respondent said, “In Pashtun culture there is male dominancy. I would like to change this thing because females nowadays are well educated.” Few of the female respondents also wished to bring changes in terms of education. As one of them said, “Females education should be increased more for the development of country and social life.” One of them wished to bring positivity in the minds of males. As she said, “Males should learn to trust females of their family as they are capable of doing a lot. In short they should think positively.”

From the responses of both males and females to this question, it can be observed that males want to bring changes in the form of education. Whereas females want to bring change in the mentality of male members of the society. So it can be concluded that education is the very basic need of our society. If males and females are given equal chances to get educated. They will compete on the same level and there won’t be any problem of unequal distribution of power in the society. Males will get to know, through education about the rights of females and females will get a chance to stand parallel to male members in their circle.

To sum up, it can be said that males consider society and culture responsible for defining the roles for males and females respectively. If females have to work outside home they choose job where they feel secured and are given respect. Whereas males are concerned more about societal needs and limitations. Everyone in the society goes through certain troubles. Males have the power to speak how they feel but when it comes to females they can’t speak out their thoughts clearly because of the fear of the society and male dominance. It has been observed that males never want to get blamed. So they make religion and culture responsible in order to avoid the fact that only because of males, females cannot live according to their own choice and comfort. The idea of power should lie with men only, is deep rooted in our culture in such a way that it has affected both males and females.  Males think they are superior and can control people who are under them. Likewise, Females have accepted it as a norm of the society to obey them. The element of power can be encountered in the language of both genders. Males talk to females in such a way that doesn’t let females to speak openly. Males allow female to talk only when the language, time and location is suitable and according to the wish of males. When females talk in their own way, their language is called illogical. Consequently, females are left with no other option than to alter their speech or remain silent to be on safe side.

Discussion and Conclusion

As mentioned in the beginning of chapter 4, that people don’t say what exactly lies in their head. There are many reasons that force a person to alter his speech in order to fulfill his/her purposes. These questionnaires were not merely conducted to evaluate the perceptions of few people about the said issue but to know from their responses, what they could mean while answering certain questions regarding this issue. So, the responses that have been described above actually carry an underlying meaning that needs to be interpreted in order to understand the application of muted group theory in Pashtun society. Muted Group Theory is a theory which deals with power and how it is used against others. After observing the responses of both males and females related to this issue, it can be concluded that Pashtun society is a male leading society. Power mostly lies with men. Men work outside home and women mostly stay at home. In a work place where males and females work together the power doesn’t always lie with men rather it lies with the one who has got some authority. From the responses it is observed that male workers are mostly marginalized by their seniors. And females are marginalized by male colleagues when their opinions are not valued or are simply ignored. So it means that power plays a major role in benefitting or suppressing someone. Muted group theory explains the same issue and said, that a group with more power often suppresses those with less power. There are many ways of suppressing but the one muted group theory talks about is that in the form of silencing. Muted voices of the suppressed are often visible in the language they talk. As observed in the responses, if males are suppressed or marginalized, they don’t hesitate to say it but if the same thing happens with females, they avoid exposing it. As many of the female respondents revealed that they are marginalized but they used such a language which doesn’t give any idea about the group that marginalizes them. Language is bound to culture and society. As males have got more power than females in the Pashtun society, obviously males have more influence over the language. It can be observed from the responses that males don’t like the way females talk because they think that females don’t talk logically. It is because that the language the females use doesn’t fit in to the linguistic structures created by men. Muted group theory explains that males often overlook the opinions shared by females and make funs of them because of which females decide to remain silent. The observed phenomenon also reveals the same thing. Females confessed that they get irritated when their opinions are neglected and they are made fun of. They also mentioned that the best way to deal with such a situation is to be careful next time and be silent. The results show that power plays a major role in creating a situation, where one is group is marginalized at the hands of another group. Treatment like this affects the oppressor and suppresser in many ways but what this study concludes is that the use of language of both males and females is affected. Males use such a language through which they refuse to take the responsibility of marginalizing the females or imposing their own views. For this purpose they blame society and culture instead. It can also be concluded that men make use of authoritative language because of which sometimes women feel reluctant to share their thoughts openly due to the fear of being rejected in the work places. They share to an amount which men can tolerate. That is the reason many men think that women cannot share their thoughts clearly or cannot speak logically without realizing that there is something wrong with the way they deal with women.

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