A tally of who makes topic switches in conversations, however, indicates that men and women are about equally as likely to do so (Okamoto and Smith-Lovin 2001).

Perhaps more significant than gender is the relative status of the speakers, with higher status people exerting greater control over conversations.

As sociologists do more research we should be able to resolve this question.

Underlying inequality of gender in everyday life is a structural inequality based on gender that runs throughout society.

Let's look at this structural feature in the workplace.