Silent with your friends? It doesn't mean she dislikes them Political scientists observed 94 groups of at least five people, asking them to discuss the best way to distribute money earned together from a hypothetical task. Each group talked about the subject for about 25 minutes before settling the matter in a secret ballot. But Chris Karpowitz, associate director of Brigham Young University's Centre for the Study of Elections and Democracy, said when women were in the minority they spoke 25 per cent less than men did. In some cases, they spoke 35 per cent less. Men should be careful in such situations not to drown women out, he advised. He said: "Women have something unique and important to add to the group, and that's being lost at least under some circumstances. When women participated more, they brought unique and helpful perspectives to the issue under discussion. We're not just losing the voice of someone who would say the same things as everybody else in the conversation. The study, published in the American Political Science Review, also found that women were less likely to speak up when a matter was decided by a straightforward majority. They were more likely to do so when a unanimous vote was needed, such as a jury deliberating on whether a defendant was guilty. Tali Mendelberg, a politics professor at Princeton University, who was involved in the study, said its findings held lessons for organisations that set the rules for public debate. She said: "In school boards, governing boards of organizations and firms, and legislative committees, women are often a minority of members and the group uses majority rule to make its decisions. These settings will produce a dramatic inequality in women's floor time and in many other ways. "Women are less likely to be viewed and to view themselves as influential in the group and to feel that their 'voice is heard.""