Deborah Tannen, a linguistics professor at Georgetown University, wrote a book in 1994 about the different ways that men and women communicate in the office. In the almost two decades since her Talking From 9 to 5 was published, Tannen hasn't seen a lot of changes. If women don't sound accommodating enough, "they're seen as too aggressive or too pushy," and if they come off as too accommodating, "they're seen as too timid," she said. "Women are also more inclined to say, 'I'm sorry that happened,' which is more likely to be seen as weak. They're seen as lacking confidence--but that doesn't mean they are actually lacking confidence." In other words, women who are indirect aren't necessarily insecure, but they may be perceived that way.

Despite the many advances--and the surge of female leaders in business and politics around the world--this misperception isn't going away. A study in 2004 conducted by Melissa Thomas-Hunt of the University of Virginia and Katherine Phillips of Columbia Business School found that women are less likely to be viewed as experts than men are, even when they have the requisite knowledge. In an experiment, 143 undergraduate business students learned about Australian bushfires and then ranked 12 items in order of importance related to surviving one. Then they were randomly assigned to groups of three to five individuals, usually a mix of women and men, to share expertise.

Not only were women's opinions more often disregarded than men's, the researchers found, but women who had no particular bushfire know-how were viewed more favorably--by men and women alike--than women who knew more, because they tended to agree with the predominant view instead of challenge it. And women tended to evaluate themselves more harshly then men on equivalent performances. "It's not actual expertise," the researchers concluded, "but perceived expertise that conveys power and status."

Communication per se isn't the problem, according to Linda Carli, who lectures on psychology at Wellesley College and coauthored Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders. Women, she argues, carry a double burden--of proving their competence and also coming across as warm and caring. "But they can't be too nice or too warm or too competent," she said.

If so little is changing in workplace dynamics, what's the answer? Give up and build the cubicle walls higher?

Nope. What's crucial, experts say, is to bring these differences into the open--not to denigrate but to understand. "Raising awareness," as Tannen put it, "is the most important thing." Simply knowing that men tend--tend--to be more authoritative and brusque and that women tend to prefer collaboration and indirection can help both genders work together.

Consider an experiment conducted at Case Western Reserve University in 2008 on the willingness of men and women to forgive another person's mistakes. Given a scenario in which someone acted wrongly, men generally judged the transgressor more harshly than women did. But when men were asked if they had ever misbehaved similarly, they suddenly became more forgiving. Women, in general, didn't.