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Ethnicity tends to play a part in this, in my observation, with white Christian or Catholic females the most timid; however, it's not always the case. The white female interrupters I knew in business were from wealthy WASP families and they may have felt more entitled. Now, there are other types of entitled women who may not mind interrupting or being loud and dictatorial.

There is certainly a difference between business settings and personal settings when it comes to female interrupting. One can easily imagine that traditionally, the home is where women feel they have more latitude to talk and even to "run things", by interrupting if they see fit.

As a woman who worked in corporate settings for years and had to break the glass ceiling to do so, I have learned many techniques to get my points across succinctly, including flattering the male who hogs the airtime by saying, "I know your time is valuable, so let me speak without interruption for about sixty seconds here to get through the main points I came to present, and then we can discuss." This usually works, and when they try to interrupt during that two minutes, I lower my eyes to my notes or my watch and put my hand up like a traffic cop, and that usually works, too. But not always.

My pet peeve with my women friends who call on the phone is the ones who launch into a wordspew the minute you say hello and do not stop for ten or fifteen minutes. It is so rude not to ask, "Is this a good time to talk?" One friend needs to be shouted at before she will stop, she is so engrossed in hearing the sound of her own voice.