Egalitarian communication: the challenge of interpersonal relationships

Abstract

This document contains information and proposals backed by international theory and by professional experience and practice that should clearly help implement egalitarian communication in twenty-first century organisations that set out to face such challenges. It is fair to say that changes have been proposed for several years, most notably in certain linguistic forms: the use of cognates or invariable forms from a gender viewpoint or dropping the generic masculine form, for example. However, this guide works from another perspective. What this guide sets out to do is make professionals consider women in their daily communication, try to address them and understand how to communicate with them, leaving sterotypes to one side. The approach is based on studies and experiences that demonstrate that institutions can benefit greatly from using forms of language and communication that are more egalitarian from a gender viewpoint, because it lets them: 1. Stimulate and optimise the organisation’s female talent. 2. Provide more effective and competitive service to female customers. 3. Develop communicative strategies within the organisation that cover the best abilities of femenine and masculine styles to perfect the company’s communicative efficiency. 4. Build a communicative culture at CaixaBank in keeping with European and international high level standards to internationalise services and products in a more effective way. If an organisation’s professionals are aware of their female interlocutors, their language will change automatically, almost without realising. It will not only help professionals to structure their discourse better through the use of gender cognates when appropriate, but their jokes, examples, comparisons and anecdotes will also be significant both