The premises of this investigation were rooted in two cross-cultural trends: variation in male dominance (and thus in women’s overall position) and the typically strong domestic status of women. In a four-culture study built around these regularities, this article’s goal was to discover whether women’s speech frequency in the home setting—that is, in the sphere of their greatest influence—would be affected by their gender status. It was found that overall higher status for women was accompanied by greater relative frequency of speaking by mothers (vis-à-vis fathers). Also, mothers were the most frequent speakers among 12 different classes of speakers (mothers, teen males, etc.) in three of the samples, but fathers spoke most frequently among Kenyan Logoli, where women’s gender status was the lowest. The results may provide an impetus to further sociolinguistic research on speech in the home setting.
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