As we once again celebrate International Women’s Day, I am struck how the voices of women in the West have changed so drastically over the last 60 years.
Here in the UK, since the advent of the pill, in 1961, radically changing women’s position in society as they gained power over their own reproductive systems and so by default, their own bodies, following, by only 33 years, the universal vote, we have experienced the biggest social change and move to towards women’s equality, there has ever been…
This has had a huge effect on our voices.
Consider the voices of the women in the old black and white movies, high pitched and seemingly completely detached from the power house of their bodies.
As women have gained economic and so social power, our voices have dropped into our bodies, our feet have got larger (!) and our voices deeper and more powerful, as we are used to standing on our own two feet and expect to be and assume that we will be, heard.
A very obvious example of this was Margaret Thatcher. When she became Prime Minister, by a series of surprises, she still spoke in that very high pitched socially acceptable ‘nice girls 1950’s sort of voice’.
This type of voice was totally unsuited to bellowing across the dispatch box in the House of Commons to a crowd of braying men who had been born when the world was still pink (the British Empire was depicted in pink on British maps) and women did what they were told.
She very wisely knew she had to do something about her voice … and quickly.
Voice Coaching For Women
Her aides contacted the RSC and asked the renowned Cicely Berry to help her project like an actress so that her voice could fill the House of Commons, in Westminster. . In other words – she asked for Public Speaking Lessons.
Cicely Berry wasn’t that keen on the teaching the leader of the Conservative party, so she passed the job on to her assistant – my voice coach – and he taught Margaret Thatcher how to resonate her voice in different parts of her body and especially the chest chamber which sounds very powerful. Over a matter of weeks her voice became lower, more effective and more memorable. Think Kemi Badenoch, but with lot more grace and less petulance.
Because of the urgency, and the determination of the student, this was achieved in a matter of weeks and soon her voice was resonating around the chamber, without a microphone.
However, with the rise of women’s power and therefore less subjugated speech and tone necessary, this deepening of voices has happened naturally over the last 56 years.
Young women now have deeper, sexy voices BUT you can notice in certain groups of society in this country and other countries, where religious culture does not permit sexual equality, the female voices are still high pitched and less authoritative.
Well Known Examples
The late Queen’s voice dropped a couple of octaves over the years and that wasn’t just age.
Observe how low Queen Camilla’s voice is…
Celebrate International Women’s Day
… by considering what you could do to help your voice help you. A warm, resonating voice, that uses lots of notes high and low, is inviting and winsome. If you are lucky enough to live in a society where women are praised for taking initiative and using their brain, then let your voice help you reach the top of your profession.
Maggie had the humility to know she needed help to achieve her goal.
Let her inspire you 🙂
Happy International Women’s Day 🙂