Study: Men listen less attentively to women in the Landtag - Arizona lawmakers ignore female speakers more than male ones, study reveals

A new study has found that lawmakers in Arizona's state parliament pay less attention to female speakers than to male ones. The research analysed over 1,000 speeches and revealed a clear gap in focus, with men showing nearly six percentage points less attentiveness when women spoke. This difference amounts to around 18 seconds of lost attention per five-minute speech.

The study used specialised software to track attentiveness by evaluating videos of speeches in the Phoenix parliament. Despite controlling for factors like speech length or time of day, the disparity remained. Notably, the lack of attention came solely from male lawmakers—women listened equally to both male and female colleagues.

Occasionally, some lawmakers were seen checking their phones during speeches. The president of the Arizona State Legislature highlighted that attentive listening is not just polite but essential for democratic culture. She suggested that women might receive less focus because they tend to speak less loudly or assertively than some men, though the study's authors could not confirm this explanation.

During the period examined, women made up 26% of the Arizona State Legislature's members. This figure rose to nearly 33% in the most recent term, with female candidates now accounting for 30.92% of those running in the March 2026 election. Yet, if women's speeches receive less attention, their ability to influence decisions equally remains at risk.

The findings raise concerns about equal representation in the Arizona State Legislature. Female lawmakers can only exercise full influence if they are given the same respect and opportunities as their male counterparts. Without this, the study suggests, democratic fairness in the parliament may be undermined.