Interpersonal Relationships Term Paper

Interpersonal and 'Gendered' Communication in the Workplace Setting

The movie, "Adam's Rib," effectively illustrates differences in interaction and communication between males and females. The conflict in the movie, which stems from the seemingly biased and sexist view of the society against Amanda Bonner's client illustrates how females are generally viewed more complex and difficult to interact with than males. Moreover, the film illustrates audio-visually the dynamics of communication among males and females, particularly in the courtroom setting. The conflict in the movie is not a fictional work of art. Indeed, conflict between males and females in the workplace setting is prevalent, particularly in a supposedly neutral community such as academic institutions. Despite the objective image illustrated by educational institutions, male-female dichotomies are abounding in the workplace setting, whether it is among student-instructor or instructor-instructor relationships.

One particular example is the conflict experienced by a female and a male academic instructor, who belong to the same faculty in a university.The male professor, a lawyer by profession, displays sexist attitude when describing females during faculty meetings. The male professor contends that female professors should not be delegated as decision-makers during faculty meetings because they tend to be 'emotional,' and usually take advantage of their emotionality to have their decisions and proposals approved, followed, or implemented. Of course, the female professor expresses disagreement over the male professor's arguments, stating that though women tend to be emotional during faculty meetings, they can be objective when discussing important issues that needs to be addressed.

This situation illustrates clearly stereotypes built around a woman's image, wherein females lack objectivity, i.e., they are more subjective than males. Indeed, these stereotypes are formulated and developed not….....