9B19A046 ZARR TECH NEXT STEPS FOR A GROWING BUSINESS.docx

9B19A046
ZARR TECH: NEXT STEPS FOR A GROWING BUSINESS
Martin Eidenberg wrote this case under the supervision of Julie
Gosse solely to provide material for class discussion. The
authors do
not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of
a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain
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Copyright © 2019, Ivey Business School Foundation Version:
2019-09-20

As Matthew Zarrillo, founder and president of Zarr Tech
Canada Inc. (Zarr Tech), stared onto the parking
lot from his cozy rented office space on a frigid morning, he
thought about how to further increase his
young and growing company’s revenue base. In the three years
he had operated the company full-time, Zarr
Tech had grown rapidly. However, in order to ensure the
continued sustainability and viability of the
business, further growth was necessary. With a wide variety of
potential opportunities to pursue, Zarrillo
wanted to ensure that he chose the option(s) that would provide
the fastest and most sustainable growth.
THE CANADIAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
CONSULTING SERVICES INDUSTRY1
With the ever-increasing implementation of technology across
all major sectors of Canadian industry, the
information technology (IT) consulting sector had enjoyed
considerable growth. In fact, industry-wide
revenues had grown from CA$34 billion2 to almost $50 billion
over the past ten years, and analysts expected
the industry to continue on its growth trajectory. With such
strong growth and relatively low barriers to
entry, it was no wonder that the number of businesses operating
within the IT consulting industry in Canada
had increased by approximately 35 per cent in the last ten years.
Other trends in the industry were also largely positive. The
Canadian economy had seen a considerable
upswing in the last year, with real gross domestic product
growth hitting three per cent (up from less than

two per cent during each of the previous two years).3
Continuous technological change and progress meant
that the need for outside advice and services continued to
increase, especially among small businesses.
Some emerging technology trends were an increasing use of and
need for cloud computing, an improved
capability to analyze big data sets to gain useful insights, the
need for enhanced cybersecurity mechanisms,
and compliance with an increasingly complex regulatory
environment.4
1 The information in this section was largely obtained from
IBISWorld, IT Consulting in Canada, accessed July 26, 2018,
https://clients1.ibisworld.com/reports/ca/industry/default.aspx?e
ntid=1415.
2 All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise
stated.
3 Global Affairs Canada, “Annual Economic Indicators,”
Government of Canada, March 12, 2018, accessed July 29,
2018,
www.international.gc.ca/economist-economiste/statistics-
statistiques/data-indicators-
indicateurs/Annual_Ec_Indicators.aspx?lang=eng.
4 Paul Sallomi, “2018 Technology Industry Outlook,” Deloitte,
accessed July 29, 2018, www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/techn
ology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/technology-
industry-outlook.html.
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Page 2 9B19A046
ZARR TECH CANADA INC.
Founded by Zarrillo while he was still in high school, Zarr Tech
was a banner under which he could perform
the various IT-related services that he had become well known
for among his circle of family, friends, and
acquaintances in Oakville, Ontario. Zarrillo continued to
operate the business in this part-time manner for
several years after graduating from high school and while
completing an advanced diploma in Information
Technology as a Computer Systems Analyst at Sheridan
College. During this time, Zarrillo worked in a
variety of IT-based co-op jobs to gain additional experience in
the field. After this, Zarrillo decided to
pursue Zarr Tech on a full-time basis and incorporate his

business.
Following Zarrillo’s decision to pursue his venture full-time,
Zarr Tech began to experience impressive
growth. Revenues grew from approximately $20,000 while the
business was being operated part-time to
being projected to surpass $300,000 in the coming year. In
order to help meet the growing demand for Zarr
Tech’s services, two additional IT specialists were hired.
Zarrillo was recognized as the Entrepreneur of
the Year by both the Milton and Oakville chambers of
commerce. A news article about the Oakville award
stated, “While Zarr Tech supports small to medium businesses
with their IT needs, Zarrillo is an integral
part of the Oakville community supporting clubs, events and
charities.”5
OAKVILLE AND SURROUNDING AREAS
Zarr Tech’s office was in Oakville, Ontario. Home to a growing
population of 193,832 residents, Oakville
was located in the broader Greater Toronto Area (GTA).6
Milton, Burlington, Mississauga, Brampton,
Hamilton, and Toronto were all large urban centres in the GTA
that were located within Zarr Tech’s
serviceable area. The average household income in Oakville was
$163,752.7 This was approximately 58
per cent above the provincial average. Halton Region, which
encompassed the municipalities of Oakville,
Burlington, Milton, and Halton Hills, had a total population of
569,787, and 13,413 businesses operated
within it.8 In recent history, Halton Region had experienced
very positive economic trends including
significant business and infrastructure investment, low
unemployment, low crime rates, and a growing,

diverse, and well-educated labour force.
COMPETITION
With the industry experiencing strong growth, Zarr Tech was
faced with a competitive landscape, making
it increasingly challenging to attract and retain new and
profitable clients. Zarrillo identified two of Zarr
Tech’s primary competitors: Networth and Digital Fire. In
addition to these direct competitors, Zarr Tech
faced competition from other IT service providers, such as Geek
Squad Inc. (Geek Squad) and Nerds on
Site, direct manufacturer support services (such as support
provided by Apple Inc. [Apple] or Microsoft
Corporation [Microsoft]), and larger IT service corporations.
5 David Lea, “Oakville Businesses Recognized during Awards
Ceremony,” InsideHalton.com, March 28, 2018, accessed
August 1, 2018, www.insidehalton.com/news-story/8356846-
oakville-businesses-recognized-during-awards-ceremony/.
6 Statistics Canada, “Census Profile, 2016 Census—Oakville,
Town [Census Subdivision], Ontario and Ontario [Province],”
November 29, 2017, accessed July 29, 2018,
www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-
pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E.
7 “Average Household Income,” Town of Oakville, May 2018,
accessed July 29, 2018, www.oakville.ca/dashboard/economic-
growth-household-income.html.
8 Halton Region, Halton Region Economic Review 2017,
accessed July 29, 2018,
https://apps.halton.ca/staticfiles/HaltonEco
nomicReview2017.pdf.

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Page 3 9B19A046
NETWORTH
One of Zarr Tech’s main competitors was NETWORTH, a
similar business run out of neighbouring
Mississauga, with a secondary office in Montreal, Quebec.9
Networth was a larger, more established
business than Zarr Tech, with a lengthy list of small, medium,
and large business clients. Networth

advertised itself as a one-stop shop for a business’s technology
needs and promoted that it was a Microsoft
Certified Partner.10 Zarrillo noted that Networth’s services
were typically priced above Zarr Tech’s and that
Networth’s service offerings were similar but broader.
Digital Fire
With an office located in Oakville, close to Zarr Tech’s, and
approximately 10 staff members, Digital Fire
operated in a similar manner to Zarr Tech, albeit on a somewhat
larger scale. Zarrillo, again, noted that
Digital Fire’s services were at a higher price point than Zarr
Tech’s. Digital Fire advertised that it provided
retroactive support when needed, proactive work to monitor
systems and prevent downtime, alongside
strategizing and making improvements to IT infrastructure to
provide businesses with a fully managed
technology platform.11
Other Competitors
Zarr Tech also faced significant competition from several other
channels. Geek Squad, a subsidiary of Best
Buy Co. Inc., a major electronics retail chain, was a widely
recognized brand name and a competing
business that provided computer and other technological
support, primarily to residential customers. Nerds
on Site provided IT support to both business and residential
customers. Zarrillo noted that such service
providers often operated using a fixed-fee per issue pricing
model. This meant, for instance, that removing
malware from a computer or transferring data from an old
device would have a specific associated price

rather than an hourly or prepaid price.
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and vendors also
often operated their own support and service
business lines. These included major global players such as
Dell, Microsoft, and Apple. OEMs would only
provide customer support for their own products and, once the
warranty period had expired, they charged
for their service and any required parts. These companies
provided the vast majority of their customer
support remotely, either by phone or Internet.
There were also several larger corporations that provided IT-
managed services and support for customers
in Canada. Typically, the larger the support provider, the larger
the clients it serviced. CGI Group Inc.
(CGI) was the largest such company in Canada. With over
10,000 professional staff members across
Canada, CGI boasted that 20 of the 25 largest companies in
Canada, as well as a host of government
agencies, had chosen CGI as their preferred IT partner of
choice.12 A variety of other players, including
those from other countries looking to establish a presence in
Canada, were present in this space as well.
9 Networth (website), accessed August 2, 2018,
www.networth.ca/.
10 Microsoft Certified Partners were recognized by Microsoft as
effective providers of Microsoft products, services, and support.
11 Digital Fire (website), accessed August 2, 2018,
www.digitalfire.ca/.
12 CGI Inc. (website), accessed August 2, 2018,
www.cgi.com/en/canada.

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Page 4 9B19A046
CUSTOMERS
Zarrillo noted that Zarr Tech had a customer base of
approximately 100 clients. While some of his
customers were residential, the majority were businesses that
could be classified as either small, medium,
or large. Moving forward, Zarrillo was unsure which customer

group provided the best growth potential.
Residential
Residential customers accounted for approximately 10 per cent
of Zarr Tech’s customer base. Many of
these customers were friends and family of Zarrillo. For these
customers, Zarr Tech provided general IT
support on an as-needed basis.
Small Businesses
Small and micro-size businesses, defined by the Government of
Canada as having 1 to 99 employees,13
accounted for about half of Zarr Tech’s business. For these
businesses, Zarr Tech usually acted as their IT
department. This included providing regular IT servicing,
backup solutions, network maintenance, and
much more.
Medium-Sized Businesses
Medium-sized businesses were classified as having 100 to 499
employees. For Zarr Tech, this group
accounted for approximately 35 per cent of customers. Zarr
Tech provided similar services to this group as
it did for small businesses, but this was usually in co-operation
with the client’s internal IT personnel.
Large Businesses
Large businesses, defined as having more than 500 employees,

accounted for a mere five per cent of Zarr
Tech’s clients. As mentioned, there was significant competition
in this market segment. For large clients, Zarr
Tech provided support and consulting to the business’s internal
IT team and chief information officer (CIO),
help desk support, vacation support, and project rollouts of new
hardware, software, or security systems.
SERVICE AND PRICING
Zarr Tech provided a variety of services to its clients. Backup
solutions, network maintenance, cloud
solutions, business telephone systems, data recovery, IT
consulting, website development, and project
implementation and management were just some of the services
offered by Zarrillo and his team. Zarr Tech
typically priced its services either by prepaid time allocation or
on a fee-per-user basis. Typically, smaller
clients preferred to buy a block of time for prepaid IT support.
This meant that they would purchase, for
instance, 10 hours of support, at $125 per hour of service, to
use when required. On the other hand, select
small and medium-sized Zarr Tech customers preferred to pay
on a per-user basis. This meant that these
business customers would, for instance, pay $120 per-user per
year for complete IT support and
maintenance of network systems as required.14 Zarrillo noted
that these prices were on the average-to-low
end compared to his often more established competitors, and he
wondered if this was appropriate.
13 Government of Canada, Glossary—Canadian Industry
Statistics, s.v. “employment size category,” February 14, 2017,
accessed August 7, 2018, www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cis-

sic.nsf/eng/h_00005.html.
14 Zarrillo estimated that approximately 10 per cent of service
prices covered costs of a variable nature.
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Page 5 9B19A046
PROMOTION
Considering the direct competitors in the local area and the
various other competitors active in the IT service

industry, Zarrillo wondered how to promote Zarr Tech to best
achieve the growth his business needed. To
grow, Zarrillo knew that he needed to promote Zarr Tech on a
larger scale to increase awareness of his still
relatively new and small company. Specifically, Zarrillo had
four potential promotional opportunities in
mind. He wondered which of these, if any, he should pursue.
Trade Shows
Trade shows were one promotional mechanism that Zarr Tech
had used with some success. Trade shows
were exhibitions organized so that companies in a particular
industry or geographic area could demonstrate
their products and services, meet with others in the industry or
area, and explore potential future
opportunities in the marketplace. Zarrillo had researched three
trade shows in the area that he felt would
best fit Zarr Tech’s needs. No matter which trade shows he
chose to attend, he would need to spend about
$400 on visually attractive banners and other items to ensure his
trade show booth looked modern and
appealing. An additional $100 per trade show would need to be
spent on promotional materials (i.e., flyers)
and prizes. Previous experience had shown that Zarr Tech could
expect another $150 in miscellaneous
expenses for every trade show to cover costs such as fuel and
food. Finally, as each trade show also meant
that Zarrillo was unavailable for what usually amounted to an
entire day, he wondered if the opportunity
cost of this time lost was justified by the number of new
customers that might be won.
The Better Business Expo (BBE) in either Hamilton or
Mississauga was a trade show where Zarrillo’s

attendance had led to moderate new customer growth in the
past. The BBE marketed itself as the place
“where business owners show for business solutions,” and, in
order to become an exhibitor, the minimum
cost for the smallest table size was $500.15 Prices ranged up to
$1,000 for the larger corner exhibits, and
additional corporate sponsorship opportunities were available
for purchase as well.
Local chambers of commerce in Oakville and Milton also
regularly held trade shows and networking
events. Zarr Tech was a member of both organizations and, as
such, received a discount on becoming an
exhibitor at these events. Zarrillo estimated the cost to be
approximately $250 per trade show, with these
events happening four times per year.
Zarrillo was also considering attending the Toronto
Entrepreneurs Conference & Tradeshow in the coming
year. Located in downtown Toronto, this was a much larger
event boasting attendance of over 2,500 people.
The larger scale of the event naturally meant that the cost to be
an exhibitor was also higher at $1,195.16
However, Zarrillo wondered if the option to become a featured
exhibitor for $1,995 was worth it. Featured
exhibitors received preferred booth locations, one social media
mention, and had their company logo
featured on conference marketing materials.
Sales Representative
With most of Zarrillo’s time dedicated to servicing Zarr Tech’s
existing clientele, he also considered the
possibility of hiring a full-time sales representative. This could

reduce Zarrillo’s own workload significantly and
would allow him to focus even more on providing the high-
quality customer service that Zarr Tech was known
for. The sales representative would be responsible for lead
generation, subsequently performing an account
management function once these leads were converted into Zarr
Tech customers. The sales representative could
attend trade shows and networking events and visit potential
clients to help grow the business.
15 Better Business Expo (website), accessed August 18, 2018,
www.betterbusinessexpo.ca/.
16 Toronto Entrepreneurs Conference (website), accessed
August 18, 2018, www.torontoentrepreneurs.ca/.
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Page 6 9B19A046
However, Zarrillo wondered whether the sales representative
would be able to competently sell Zarr Tech’s
service offering without significant technical knowledge and
understanding. Zarrillo planned to compensate
the sales representative with a $35,000 annual salary17 and a
ten per cent commission on all self-generated
sales. Zarrillo wondered whether an offer of this compensation
package would enable him to recruit
someone with the ability to help grow Zarr Tech. He fully
expected that he might have to be amenable to
attract the right candidate.
Internet Advertising
Considering that Zarr Tech was part of the technology industry,
Zarrillo also wanted to explore the option
to promote his company online. He wondered how well this
method of promotion would fit with the clients
he desired to grow his company with. Specifically, he wanted to
explore the opportunities provided by
Google Ads as well as advertising on LinkedIn. Zarrillo was
unsure about which platform would be best at
attracting the specific new clients that Zarr Tech targeted, and
he was open to exploring other Internet
advertising opportunities as well.

After doing some preliminary research, Zarrillo believed that
the Google Search Network would best align
with Zarr Tech’s needs. This would mean that Zarr Tech would
appear above or below the Google Search
results of interested parties within the municipalities of Halton
Region.18 Since pricing for Google Ads was
based on an auction system, Zarrillo was unsure what Zarr
Tech’s exact cost per click on their advertisements
would be.19 Based on the industry he was in, Zarrillo estimated
that his cost per click could range anywhere
from $1.50 to $4.00. In addition, Zarr Tech would set a daily
budget in Google’s system to ensure advertising
spending was controlled. Zarrillo planned to spend $10 per day,
five days a week, but he wondered if this was
appropriate.20 While Zarrillo was excited about the potential
instant results from this opportunity, he had also
heard that some businesses received numerous bogus calls,
which limited the advertising’s effectiveness. He
also understood that search engine optimization to ensure the
right keywords were being used to drive the
right potential customers to Zarr Tech’s ads would require
significant time and experience in data analysis.
Zarrillo also believed that LinkedIn could be a useful
promotional tool for Zarr Tech. He had already begun
writing short technology-related articles from his personal
LinkedIn profile that had generated some useful
free promotion for his company. He now wondered if taking this
a step further by using LinkedIn’s paid
advertising services was a worthwhile opportunity for Zarr
Tech. Being the largest professionally focused
social network, LinkedIn boasted over 500 million users across
the globe.21 The platform offered two different
advertising alternatives that Zarr Tech could take advantage
of.22 Under the cost-per-click (CPC) model, Zarr

Tech would pay for each click on its advertisement. The other
option was a cost-per-impression (CPM) model,
wherein Zarr Tech would pay for each 1,000 views of its
advertisement and would incentivize LinkedIn to
show the advertisement. Recent data showed that the average
CPC cost was $3.20, while the average CPM
cost was $8.90.23 Zarrillo planned to spend a similar amount on
LinkedIn as he would on Google. While
Zarrillo was excited about the higher-quality traffic that
LinkedIn provided advertisers, he was, again, worried
about Zarr Tech’s inexperience at managing an effective
campaign on the platform.
17 An additional 10 per cent of this salary would need to be
allocated for the sales representative’s employee benefits.
18 “About the Google Search Network,” Google Ads Help,
accessed August 19, 2018, https://support.google.com/google-
ads/answer/1722047?co=ADWORDS.IsAWNCustomer.
19 “Manage Your Spend in Google Ads,” Google Ads Help,
accessed August 19, 2018, https://support.google.com/google-
ads/answer/1704424?hl=en.
20 It was typical for unspent daily budget allocations to carry
over to the following day.
21 Barb Darrow, “LinkedIn Claims Half a Billion Users,”
Fortune, April 24, 2017, accessed August 19, 2018,
http://fortune.com/2017/04/24/linkedin-users/.
22 “LinkedIn Advertising Costs & Pricing,” LinkedIn Marketing
Solution
s, accessed August 19, 2018,
https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/ads/pricing.

23 Abhishek Dey, “LinkedIn CPM Rates 2019,” Blognife, May
30, 2018, accessed August 19, 2018,
https://blognife.com/2018/05/30/linkedin-cpm-rates-2018/.
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Page 7 9B19A046
Email Marketing & Other Promotional Opportunities
As Zarr Tech grew over the years, Zarrillo began to use email
marketing to stay in touch with his clientele,
business network, and leads generated from past trade shows.
To do this, he used Mailchimp, an online
marketing automation platform and email subscription service.
Zarr Tech subscribed to Mailchimp’s
Forever Free Plan, which meant Zarrillo could send up to
12,000 emails per month to up to 2,000

subscribers at no cost.24 This service provided Zarrillo with
much of Mailchimp’s product offerings,
including email list management tools, campaign tracking and
reports, email design tools, and integration
with other social network advertising campaigns.25
Zarrillo wondered whether it was worth investing more time
into optimizing his use of this promotional
tool, and he even considered the option to upgrade to Mailchimp
Pro for $199 per month, which would
remove email and subscriber restrictions and offer more
detailed analytical tools to optimize his use of the
platform. Zarrillo knew that any use of Mailchimp required
outside generation of contacts to email, as well
as time-consuming generation of content to include within
emails. He had also personally experienced the
annoyance and inbox clogging that email subscriptions were
known to cause.
Zarrillo was very open to other promotional tools that could
help grow his business. For instance, he had
previously considered advertising at local community events,
such as Oakville’s well-known Midnight
Madness event or Burlington’s RibFest.

THE VANCOUVER DECISION
While Zarrillo had enjoyed starting his business in the Oakville
community, where he had grown up, he
also had family ties to and a strong fondness for the city of
Vancouver, British Columbia. With this in mind,
Zarrillo began to consider whether he and Zarr Tech were in a
position to expand to the West Coast. With
a population of 2.46 million26 and 107,527 total businesses,27
the Greater Vancouver Regional District was
a promising market opportunity. However, Zarrillo also
understood that establishing a Zarr Tech presence
in Vancouver would also mean starting with very little brand
recognition in an environment that was no
less competitive in the IT service industry than Oakville and the
GTA.
Zarrillo considered spending three months in Vancouver during
the summer to begin establishing his
presence there. This would mean leaving his Oakville-based
clients in the hands of his hired specialists.
While he would be able to keep his costs low by staying with
family in the area, there were, nevertheless,

numerous costs to consider. Zarrillo figured that his flight and
local travel costs could total up to $3,000.
Additionally, he knew that various miscellaneous expenses
could arise in addition to this. Zarrillo also
expected to incur $1,000 in legal expenses to register his
business in this new jurisdiction. Due to his
connections in the area, Zarrillo had already lined up four
small-business clients with which to begin his
Vancouver operations.28 In order to further grow the business
in Vancouver, Zarrillo knew that he needed
to spend money on promotion. Many of the same advertising
alternatives existed in Vancouver as they did
in the Oakville area. However, Zarrillo wondered if differing
market characteristics and opportunities of
the two locales required different promotional approaches.
24 “About the Forever Free Plan,” Mailchimp, June 18, 2018,
accessed August 19, 2018, https://mailchimp.com/help/about-
the-forever-free-plan/.
25 “Pricing,” Mailchimp, accessed August 19, 2018,
https://mailchimp.com/pricing/free/.
26 Statistics Canada, op. cit.
27 Province of British Columbia, “Number of Businesses &
Employment by Industry,” accessed August 19, 2018,
www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/data/statistics/business-industry-

trade/number-of-businesses-and-employment-by-industry.
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Tech’s services on a block-of-time basis, while the other half
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Page 8 …
Gender in Communication
Third Edition
2

This book honors our mothers:
Maj. Helen Mary Finks Palczewski (1921–1999)
Victoria DeFrancisco Leto (1924–2004)
Adele Eilers Pruin (1929–)
Mary Lu Dick (1956–)
This book also honors Cate’s life partner:
Arnold James Madsen (1958–2017)
Arnie was a good man. In this political moment, during which
good men committed to gender/sex justice are sorely
needed, our loss of Arnie is particularly painful. Be good. Do
good.
3

Gender in Communication
A Critical Introduction
Third Edition
Catherine Helen Palczewski
University of Northern Iowa
Victoria Pruin DeFrancisco
Danielle Dick McGeough
4
FOR INFORMATION:
SAGE Publications, Inc.
2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, California 91320
E-mail: [email protected]

SAGE Publications Ltd.
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London EC1Y 1SP
United Kingdom
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India
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#10-04 Samsung Hub
Singapore 049483

Copyright © 2019 by SAGE Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
by any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Palczewski, Catherine Helen, author. | DeFrancisco,
Victoria L. (Victoria Leto), author. | McGeough, Danielle Dick,
author.
Title: Gender in communication : a critical introduction /
Catherine Helen Palczewski, University of Northern Iowa,
Victoria Pruin
DeFrancisco, University of Northern Iowa, Danielle Dick
McGeough, University of Northern Iowa.
Other titles: Communicating gender diversity

Description: Third Edition. | Thousand Oaks : SAGE
Publications, [2018] | Revised edition of the authors’ Gender in
communication, [2014]
| Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017034869 | ISBN 9781506358451 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Sex role. | Gender identity. | Communication—
Social aspects. | Communication—Sex differences. | Sexism in
language.
Classification: LCC HQ1075 .D43 2018 | DDC 305.3—dc23 LC
record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034869
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Acquisitions Editor: Terri Accomazzo
Production Editor: Laureen Gleason
Copy Editor: Deanna Noga
Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.

Proofreader: Sarah J. Duffy
5
https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034869
Indexer: Marilyn Augst
Cover Designer: Scott Van Atta
Marketing Manager: Allison Henry
6
Brief Contents
1. Preface
2. PART I: Foundations
1. Chapter 1 Developing a Critical Gender/Sex Lens
2. Chapter 2 Theories of Gender/Sex
3. Chapter 3 Gendered/Sexed Voices

4. Chapter 4 Gendered/Sexed Bodies
5. Chapter 5 Gendered/Sexed Language
3. PART II: Institutions
1. Chapter 6 An Introduction to Gender in Social Institutions
2. Chapter 7 Families
3. Chapter 8 Education
4. Chapter 9 Work
5. Chapter 10 Religion
6. Chapter 11 Media
7. Chapter 12 One Last Look Through a Critical Gendered Lens
4. References
5. Index
6. About the Authors
7
Detailed Contents
Preface
Events Informing the Third Edition

The 2016 Presidential Election
The Women’s March on Washington
The Silencing of Elizabeth Warren
The Scolding of April Ryan and Maxine Waters
Why Studying Gender in Communication Is Important
Core Principles
Organization of the Book
New to This Edition
Individual Acknowledgments
Social Acknowledgments
PART I: Foundations
Chapter 1 Developing a Critical Gender/Sex Lens
Intersectionality
Gender and Sex, Gender/Sex
Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming
Sexuality and Romantic Attraction
Race and Ethnicity
National Identity
Socioeconomic Class
Intersectionality Conclusion
Communication

Systemic Gendered Violence
Conclusion
Chapter 2 Theories of Gender/Sex
Biological Theories
Chromosomes (Hormones and Genitalia)
Brain Development
Biological Theories Conclusion
Psychological Theories
Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Feminism
Social Learning
Psychological Theories Conclusion
Critical/Cultural Theories
Shared Assumptions
Multiracial and Global Feminisms
8
Queer Theory
Critical/Cultural Theories Conclusion

Applying Gender Theory: Some Useful Criteria
Conclusion
Chapter 3 Gendered/Sexed Voices
Conversation Work
Politeness
Humor
Swearing
Identity Work
Feminine Conversational Style
Masculine Conversational Style
Gay and Lesbian Conversational Styles
Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Conversational Styles
Relationship Work
Children’s Play
Ineffective Conflict Management
Conversational Aggression
Conclusion
Chapter 4 Gendered/Sexed Bodies

Body Politics
Gender Performativity
Objectification
Disciplining Gendered Bodies
Attractiveness
Attractive Men
Attractive Women
Clothing
Embodied Space
Embodied Movement
Refusing the Command Performance
Agency
Using Norms Against Each Other
Making Norms Visible
Overtly Challenging Norms
Revaluing the Body
Conclusion
Chapter 5 Gendered/Sexed Language
The Power of Language
Language Can Be Used to Oppress and Subordinate

9
He/Man Language
Semantic Derogation
Semantic Imbalance
Semantic Polarization
Marked and Unmarked Terms
Trivialization
Naming
Lack of Vocabulary
The Truncated Passive
The Falsely Universal We
The Deverbing of Woman
Language as Violence
Language as Resistance
Talking Back
Developing a New Language
Resignification
Strategic Essentialism and Rhetorics of Difference
Moving Over
Conclusion

PART II: Institutions
Chapter 6 An Introduction to Gender in Social Institutions
Prejudice Versus Institutionalized Discrimination
Institutional Control
Institutionalized Gendered/Sexed Violence
Preview
Chapter 7 Families
Defining Family and Gender/Sex Roles
The Nuclear Family
The State of Families
Doing and Undoing Motherhood
Communicating in Families
Parent-Child Communication
Couple Communication
(Un)Doing Family
Singles and Childfree People
Creative Undoing of Family
Engaged Fatherhood
Same-Sex Parents
Raising Transgender Children

Conclusion
10
Chapter 8 Education
The Politics of Knowledge
The History of Education: Gendered/Sexed, Raced, and Classed
Hidden Curriculum: Sexist, Racist, Classist, and Heterosexist
Gendered Expectations and Interpersonal Communication
Classroom Interactions
Bullying, Harassment, and Sexual Assault
Emancipatory Education
Curricula
Laws
Globally
Conclusion
Chapter 9 Work
Pay Equity and Job Segregation

Sex Discrimination in the Workplace
Work as Liberation and Locations of Empowerment
Conclusion
Chapter 10 Religion
Why Study Religion, Gender, and Communication?
Religion and Gender/Sex Roles
Gender, Sex, and Religiosity
Sex and Institutional Religious Power
Complementarians and Egalitarians
Muscular Christianity
Religion and Sexuality
Religion as Liberation and Locations of Empowerment
African Americans and Religion
Veiling Practices
Rereading the History of Women Religious
Conclusion
Chapter 11 Media
Defining Media and How They Function
Media Hegemony or Polysemy

Media Polyvalence
The Gaze(s)
Ways of Seeing
The Gaze
An Oppositional Gaze
Who Is Represented in Media
News
11
Film
Television and Scripted Programming
Video Games
How People Are Represented
Sexualization of Women
“Masculinity in Crisis”
Conclusion
Chapter 12 One Last Look Through a Critical Gendered Lens

References
Index
About the Authors
12
13
14
Preface
As we worked through the revisions for this third edition
throughout 2016 and into the summer of 2017, a
number of events transpired that threw into relief the
importance of gender in communication: the
presidential campaign, the Women’s March on Washington, the
silencing of Senator Elizabeth Warren, and
the scolding of reporter April Ryan and Representative Maxine

Waters. All these events have historical
antecedents. So first a little more detail on the events.
15
Events Informing the Third Edition
16
The 2016 Presidential Election
In the summer of 2016, former senator and secretary of state
Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination
for the presidency, but she later lost the electoral college vote
to businessperson and reality TV figure Donald
Trump. No single factor explains the election, but research
indicated that sexism likely had something to do
with the result (Maxwell & Shields, 2017). Although polls
indicated many Trump voters prior to the election
voiced concerns about Clinton’s use of personal e-mail, after
the election they indicated they were not

concerned about Trump’s use of a personal e-mail server,
leading one commentator to conclude, “This news
proves that Hillary Clinton’s loss was about sexism, not her
emails” (Strassner, 2017). Even though Clinton
testified for more than 11 hours about Benghazi and turned over
all her files and nothing was found, criticism
persisted. Why?
An experimental study about backlash against female politicians
provided one explanation. Male politicians
who were perceived as power-seeking were also perceived to be
“more assertive, stronger, and tougher” and
have “greater competence” while women politicians who were
perceived as power-seeking were seen as
uncaring and people responded to them with moral outrage
(Okimoto & Brescoll, 2010). General resistance
to female candidates has been demonstrated in experiments that
found 26% of the population express anger at
the idea of a female president (Streb, Burrell, Frederick, &
Genovese, 2008).
The findings of these predictive studies were confirmed by
research on 2016voters. University of Arkansas
researchers found that “modern Sexism did influence the 2016
presidential election for many Americans”

(Maxwell & Shields, 2017). Modern sexism, defined as hostility
or resentment toward working women,
generally was more pervasive among White U.S. citizens and
southerners and was not exclusive to men. The
conclusion of the study: Of White Independents and Democrats,
11 million men and 6.5 million women “feel
enough animosity towards working women and feminists to
make them unlikely to vote for one of them—
even from their own party” (Maxwell & Shields, 2017).
Regardless of your opinion of the electoral outcome, gender in
communication played a role in the election.
But it is important to remember that this was not the first, or
only, election in which gender and sex played a
role. For every contemporary example of women in politics, a
long history of struggle precedes it.
Clinton was not the first woman to run for the presidency. In
1872, Victoria Woodhull ran, even before
women had the right to vote. In 1884, Belva Ann Lockwood was
the first woman to actually appear on
ballots. In 1964, Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to
receive nomination votes at a major party’s
convention. In 1972, Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman
elected to Congress, earned delegates at the

Democratic National Convention. Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink
and Linda Jenness ran in 1972, Pat
Schroeder in 1988, Elizabeth Dole in 2000, and Carol Moseley
Braun in 2004. For any contemporary issue
related to gender in communication, a long history precedes it.
The same is true for this book. Our ability to
write this book, and to cite research about gender in
communication, is the product of a history of activism,
scholarship, and writing by others.
17
Many of the arguments for Trump and against Clinton
hearkened back to arguments originally used to deny
women the right to vote. On at least 12 different occasions,
Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, commented
on how Trump being “broad-shouldered” qualified him for the
presidency. For example, Pence indicated he
agreed to run with Trump because “he embodies American
strength, and I know that he will provide that
kind of broad-shouldered American strength on the global stage
as well” (as cited in Chait, 2016). Although
Pence denied that the comments had anything to do with

masculinity (Griffiths, 2016), the repeated
references to shoulders and strength sounded similar to
comments from 100 years ago.
One of the main arguments against women voting was that their
bodies were too weak to enforce their vote.
The New York Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, in a
circa 1910 statement presented to both houses
of the U.S. Congress, noted: “To extend the suffrage to women
would be to introduce into the electorate a
vast non-combatant party, incapable of enforcing its own rule”
(as cited in Hazard, 1910, p. 88). British-born
historian and journalist Goldwin Smith, in his commentary on
the question of woman suffrage, explained:
“Political power has hitherto been exercised by the male sex . . .
because man alone could uphold government
and enforce the law” (as cited in “Opinions,” 1912, p. 6).
Author Rossiter Johnson worried, “To make any
party victorious at the polls by means of blank-cartridge ballots
would only present an increased temptation to
the numerical minority to assert itself as the military majority. .
. . If an election is carried by a preponderance
of votes cast by women, who is to enforce the verdict?” (as
cited in “Opinions,” 1912, p. 5). Men’s physical
strength was foregrounded as central to their political strength.

These contemporary comparisons to historical
moments did not end with the election.
18
The Women’s March on Washington
On January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration and 10
weeks after the election, the Women’s March on
Washington occurred, at which over 470,000 people marched.
Across the globe, 999 marches occurred with
an estimated 5.6 million people participating, the largest single
protest event in history (“Feet,” 2017; see also
“Sister Marches,” 2017). In describing the mission of the
March, organizers noted how “the rhetoric of the
past election cycle has insulted, demonized, and threatened
many of us—immigrants of all statuses, Muslims
and those of diverse religious faiths, people who identify as
LGBTQIA [lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer,
intersex, and asexual], Native people, Black and Brown people,
people with disabilities, survivors of sexual
assault.” The final element of the mission was “HEAR OUR
VOICE” (“Mission & Vision,” n.d.). For every

contemporary example of a march about gender injustice, a long
history of marches precedes it.
This was not the first women’s march on Washington. On March
3, 1913, the eve of President Woodrow
Wilson’s inauguration, the first national woman suffrage
procession occurred. Five thousand women
participated, including a contingent of Black women from
Howard University who had to fight for their
inclusion, as an estimated 100,000 people watched. The march
was important, but the crowd’s reaction (first
verbally and then physically attacking the suffragists) and the
police department’s failure to respond together
catapulted woman suffrage into national attention. According to
the New York Times, “for more than an hour
confusion reigned. The police, the women say, did practically
nothing, and finally soldiers and marines
formed a voluntary escort to clear the way”; a police officer
designated to guard the marchers was overheard
shouting, “If my wife were where you are I’d break her head”
(“5,000 Women,” 1913, p. 5). Suffrage
movement organizers described how marchers were “struck in
the face by onlookers, spat upon, and
overwhelmed by rabid remarks” (Blatch & Lutz, 1940, p. 196).
Our ability to write this book is made possible

by the work of activists who made clear women’s issues were
public issues and fought for women’s voices to be
heard.
19
The Silencing of Elizabeth Warren
In February 2017, during Senate debate about attorney general
nominee Jefferson Beauregard Sessions,
Senator Elizabeth Warren read the words of Coretta Scott King
criticizing Sessions for suppressing the vote
of Black citizens. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell
interrupted and prevented Warren from
completing the remarks, enforcing a senate rule that prohibits
one senator from “impugning” another.
Commenting on this moment, Megan Garber (2017), a reporter
for The Atlantic, wrote:
There are many ways that American culture tells women to be
quiet—many ways they are reminded
that they would really be so much more pleasing if they would
just smile a little more, or talk a little

less, or work a little harder to be pliant and agreeable. Women
are, in general, extremely attuned to
these messages; we have, after all, heard them all our lives. . . .
[W]hen Senate majority leader
Mitch McConnell intervened to prevent her from finishing the
speech—many women, regardless of
their politics or place, felt that silencing, viscerally. And when
McConnell, later, remarked of
Warren, “She was warned. She was given an explanation.
Nevertheless, she persisted,” many
women, regardless of their politics or place, felt it again.
Because, regardless of their politics or
place, those women have heard the same thing, or a version of
it, many times before. (paras. 1–2)
Instead of recognizing the gender politics at play, other
Senators reinforced sex roles. Senator Orrin Hatch
agreed that Warren should have been silenced because she was
criticizing another senator. Hatch’s reason:
Warren needed to “think of his [Sessions’s] wife” (as cited in
Crockett, 2017). In response, a meme was born:
“Nevertheless, she persisted” adorned T-shirts, hashtags, and
profile pages. For every contemporary example
of persistence in the face of gendered opposition, a long history
of persistence precedes it.

It is important to remember that in 1917 representatives of the
National Woman’s Party would be the first
group to protest at the White House directly. Even when the
United States entered World War I, the Silent
Sentinels kept up the protests in front of the White House only
to face arrest, violent crowds, and police
violence after arrest. Nevertheless, they persisted.
20
The Scolding of April Ryan and Maxine Waters
At a March 2017 press conference, Press Secretary Sean Spicer
thought it was appropriate to tell American
Urban Radio Networks’ veteran White House correspondent
April Ryan to “stop shaking your head” (as cited
in Silva, 2017). The same day, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly
answered criticisms of Trump made by
Representative Maxine Waters by snidely commenting: “I didn’t
hear a word she said. I was looking at the
James Brown wig” (as cited in Taylor, 2017).

These events motivated educator and activist Brittany Packnett
to create the hashtag #BlackWomenAtWork,
under which Black women noted the range of ways their
nonverbal communication and bodies were
disciplined in the workplace, for example, by being told their
hair was unprofessional or not being recognized
as being the owner or manager. Packnett explained:
This idea that a black woman’s presence is to be policed or
politicized in the workplace is what we’re
talking about. The idea that Sean Spicer can tell April Ryan
what to do with her face, irrespective of
her years in journalism, the idea that Maxine Waters’ voice is
less important than her hair, is what
black women are experiencing every single day. (as cited in
Taylor, 2017)
For every contemporary example of Black women fighting for
their rights, a long history of struggle precedes
it.
It is important to remember that when the U.S. Congress was
debating whether to extend voting rights to
women, congressmen argued that the vote should not be
extended to women because, while the South had

figured out ways to suppress the Black man’s vote, they would
not be able to suppress Black women’s vote.
Representative Clark (1918) explained that Black women would
not be as easily cowed as Black men and
would be “fanatical on the subject of voting” and “much more
insistent and vicious” in their “demands for
social recognition which will never be accorded them” (p. H90).
21
Why Studying Gender in Communication Is Important
The examples of Clinton, Warren, Ryan, Waters, and the March
illustrate four points.
First, gender matters. To be able to understand and explain
current events and analyze communication, you
need to be able to name and articulate the way in which gender
operates in communication. Trump was
performing a particular type of masculinity just as much as
Clinton and Warren were disciplined for not
performing femininity appropriately. Additionally, people’s
perceptions of the candidates were refracted

through expectations tied to the candidate’s sex. More than
actual differences in communication patterns,
perceptions and expectations of other people’s behaviors are
gendered. In Same Difference: How Gender Myths
Are Hurting Our Relationships, Our Children, and Our Jobs,
psychologist Rosalind Barnett and journalist Caryl
Rivers (2004) critiqued social myths of gender differences.
They argued that the belief in gender differences
has created a self-fulfilling prophecy in which people’s
stereotypes actually create the differences.
Second, race matters. One is never just a gender, and the
communication challenges Black women, Latinas,
Asian woman, and Native American women face are distinct
from those that White women face. The
challenges Black men, and other people of color, face are
distinct from those that White men and women
face.
Third, masculinity matters. Gender is as much about masculinity
as it is about femininity. And being held to a
gender binary, masculine or feminine, limits all people.
Fourth, protest matters. People using their voices to advocate
for issues about which they are passionate makes

a difference. The 2017 Women’s March on Washington was not
the first time women marched for rights in
the capitol of the United States, Elizabeth Warren was not the
first person to persist in the face of being
silenced, and the #BlackWomenAtWork hashtag was not the
first attempt to make clear the unique
challenges Black people face as a result of how their race and
sex intersect. Social change regarding gendered
expectations and sex roles does not happen overnight; instead,
repeated acts of communication—of public
protest, of interpersonal interactions, of small-group
discussions—are needed to make change.
Because gender is a constantly evolving concept in individuals’
gender identity, in the larger culture’s
predominant notions about gender, and in continuing research,
absolute claims are not possible and would be
irresponsible. Instead, our intent is to better equip readers with
tools you can use to examine and make sense
of gender in communication. As such, this book is not simply a
review of communication research but is
rather an attempt to place the research in the context of larger
theoretical, social, and political issues that
influence, and are influenced by, gender in communication. We
have attempted to write this book as an

extended conversation in which we interact with research and
popular discussions of gender in communication
that have most excited our own scholarly imaginations.
We study the variety of ways in which communication of and
about gender and sex enables and constrains
people’s identities. We believe that people are social actors and
create meaning through their symbolic
interactions. Thus, our emphasis is not on how gender
influences communication but on how communication
22
constitutes gender. We believe people are capable of being self-
reflexive about communication processes and
creative in generating new ways to play with symbols.
23
Core Principles

To study how people construct, perform, and change gender and
what factors influence these performances,
we draw on seven principles:
1. Intersectionality. You cannot study gender or sex in isolation.
How a particular sexed body performs
gender always intersects with other identity ingredients,
including race, ethnicity, social class, age, sexual
orientation, physical ability, and more. People are who they are,
and act the way they act, not just
because of their sex or gender. People are wonderfully complex
and form their gendered identities at an
intersection of influences from multiple identity ingredients,
and the social structures in which people
operate are never formed solely along sex lines. Dominance and
power also are best understood through
an intersectional analysis. Thus, to more accurately study
gender, we study gender in the context of
other social identities.
2. Interdisciplinarity. We seek to fuse and balance social
scientific, humanistic, and critical methods. Thus,
we cite quantitative, qualitative, rhetorical, critical, and
creative scholarship. As coauthors, we have the
benefit of drawing on three fields of communication studies that

often operate independent of each
other but that are inextricably interlinked: rhetoric, social
science, and performance studies. Palczewski,
trained as a rhetorical scholar, was a college debate coach for
15 years and studies political controversies
and social protest. DeFrancisco, trained as a social scientist,
uses qualitative research methods to study
how gender and related inequalities and acts of resistance are
constructed through interpersonal
relationships and individuals’ identities. Dick McGeough,
trained in performance studies and qualitative
methods, uses creative approaches to explore scholarly
questions. Most texts on gender in
communication focus on social science studies of gendered
interpersonal interactions and, thus, fail to
recognize how broader public discourse can influence gender.
Not only do we bridge methodological chasms within our own
discipline, but we do so among
disciplines. We purposely reviewed each topic from multiple
disciplinary and activist perspectives.
Throughout the text, we honor the contributions of Black
womanist theory, we celebrate the challenges
offered by third-wave feminisms, we gratefully include lessons
taught by queer and trans theory, we

integrate the insights of men’s studies scholars, and we happily
navigate the tensions between global and
postmodern feminisms. The result is a richer, fuller
understanding of the topic that stretches the
boundaries of what is commonly considered relevant for a
communication text.
We do not present research consistent with our view only.
People learn most by stepping outside their
academic or personal comfort zones to consider other
perspectives. We value engaged and vital
disagreement because we believe readers are able to glean more
from our presentation of substantiated
arguments than they could if we presented the research as if it
were all consistent and value free. We
express our views of the material, and we hope this encourages
you to do the same. Know up front that
we believe agreement is neither a necessary nor a preferred
requirement for learning from this book, and
disagreement is not a sign of disrespect.
3. Gender diversity, not sex differences. We do not subscribe to
typical conceptualizations of gender as a form
24

of difference. Instead, we problematize the differences view by
showing how it engages in essentialism,
ignores power, reinforces stereotypes, fails to account for
intersectional identities, and is inconsistent
with statistical analyses demonstrating that sex does not
consistently account for differences in
communication. However, our rejection of the differences
approach does not mean that we deny
differences exist. Instead, we seek to recognize differences
within genders as a result of intersectionality.
We reject binary ways of thinking. We embrace a gender
diversity approach. Research embracing this
approach continues to grow, and we make a concerted effort to
recognize multiple femininities and
multiple masculinities and complex mixtures of them.
4. Gender is performed. Gender is something a person does, not
something a person is. Gender is not
something located within individuals; it is a social construct
that institutions, groups, and individuals
maintain (and challenge). Thus, we examine the microlevel
(how an individual might perform gender),

the mesolevel (how groups within institutions communicate
about gender), and the macrolevel (how
social understandings of gender are performed on individuals).
5. Masculinity. The study of gender is not exclusively the study
of women. However, the study of gender
has traditionally been considered a “women’s issue,” hence
researchers and textbooks often have focused
almost exclusively on women and femininities,
underemphasizing men and masculinities. Thanks to the
recent growth in men’s studies, we have at our disposal a rich
literature base that considers gender and
masculinity.
6. Violence. To study gender in lived experiences means to
study the darker side of gender: oppression and
violence. In this textbook, we do not shy away from this
uncomfortable reality. Ours is not a narrative
that says, “We are all just different, and isn’t that nice?” To tell
the whole story one must go deeper,
making visible connections to the realities of gendered violence.
This …

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