Gender and Speech-making: How Women Claim Their Space in Government Press Conferences

Women remain underrepresented in leadership positions. Yet, we know little about how women use the limited opportunities they have once they are in positions of power. To continue closing this gap, this study examines how gender and situational context affect speaking time at government press conferences. We argue that women, particularly women politicians, speak longer to compensate for their limited positional power, reinforcing their perceived competence. Our findings based on data from 1,002 press conferences across 15 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic confirm this hypothesis, showing that women leaders speak longer, but their speech length decreases as more women participate. However, broader gender equality levels do not influence this pattern. These results contribute to research on politics and gender, highlighting how women strategically use speech to assert influence in men-dominated spaces.