It is the stereotype that men talk more, studies have shown it is actually men who dominate conversations. [insidehighered.com]

@HippieChick58 Studies of what kind of conversations? Of large groups such as business meetings, or of smaller groups such as among personal friends?

@HippieChick58 Not taking part in conversations has a history in my family. Ancestors, serfs in feudal Germany, were told that if they were talking they were not working. When I was young a mealtime conversation was “Please pass the xxxxx” and “Thank you”, My mother literally said nothing about her early years. My father said almost nothing about his. One college date, circa 1953, talked from when she entered my car to when she left it. I married a woman who seldom spoke. Six years and no noisy arguments later, in divorce counseling I learned the reason.
In 1970 I joined Toastmasters and now, in humor, say I haven’t stopped talking since. Retired, I don’t allow people to filibuster me. I use questions to break into monologues and sometimes answer my questions.

@yvilletom My mom was just a few years older than you, her parents came to the US from Germany about the 1880s, I think. We had a great deal more chatter at our table, not that it was all uplifting by any means. Talking is a way to cover nerves, establish dominance, and so many other uses besides transferring information.

@HippieChick58 Assertiveness — which in a midlife college course consisted of being able to say what I like, what I don’t like, and sometimes “Stop” — helped me enormously.