Battle of the Sexes

As more women than ever run for political office, they're more often facing opponents in formal debates on television. While such widespread exposure offers incalculable benefits, it may be a special trap for fe male candidates. They tend to play by the rules of the game-but that only makes them look like chumps against male opponents.

Female candidates not only stay within their time limit more often than men, they also don't switch topics or interrupt their opponents as much as the guys do, reports Karen Adams, Ph.D., a linguist at Arizona State University. As a result, they come across as less powerful. And they may not get to relay crucial information.

Debate format levels the playing field. But after viewing videotapes of 30 debates by candidates running for national state, and city government offices, Adams identified consistent patterns of power grabs by male debaters.

o TURN LENGTH: Male candidates blabbed an average of 12 additional words after the official end of their turn, though some droned on for 148 words, or about 35 seconds, after the moderator yelled stop. Female politicians, on the other hand, spoke only 10 additional words and rarely exceeded 18. Women often stopped in mid-sentence when time was up, while males completed their thoughts no matter how egregious the violation.

o UNINVITED TURNS: Debating candidates often blurted out of turn to attack an opponent, correct a mistake, defend themselves, or clarify the debate's structure. While both male and female politicians interrupted with the same frequency, men were more likely than women to make contentious remarks that advanced their platform or belittled their opponent.

o TOPIC SHIFTS: Candidates changed topics in every debate. But while female candidates often used topic shifts to show themselves as good citizens (they thanked the voters, lauded the value of debate and voting), male candidates did it to rebut earlier points-or to avoid asking women serious questions. Some males preferred to talk about the World Series rather than give a female competitor an opportunity to speak about a challenging issue. That "takes away a woman's opportunity to act as a real candidate," Adams says.

Why the difference? "Men and women are socialized to conduct conversations differently," says Adams, who adds that, unlike men, women are "taught to tend to other people" in the conversation. Not that women politicians can't be aggressive. Those at a high level of office who receive the appropriate amount of training do hold their own.

Photo: George Bush (SLOAN/GAMMA LIAISON)

Photo: Geraldine Ferraro (SLOAN/GAMMA LIAISON)