These proverbs imply that many people stereotypically think women are
more talkative than men, or moreover that women talk too much. Yet
there has not been one study which supports this stereotype: Studies in
laboratories, classrooms, meetings and television chat shows indicate that
women in fact talk less than men do in mixed-sex conversations.1 This
suggests that the false stereotype of talkative women is not a reflection of
reality but just a reflection of the social expectation--‘women should be
silent’--because silence has usually been considered as synonymous with
obedience in many societies.