This is a serious communication problem. Women start more conversations than men, ask more questions, attempt to put the other person at ease more, are more supportive of the talker, and generally take more responsibility for the overall social situation. These are valuable, commendable skills. This is observable chauvinism. Men and women respond differently to new and challenging ideas.
Women seek to make sense of the new idea, to grasp how it can be seen as accurate and useful.
It involves empathizing with the speaker to cooperatively assimilate the truth together, i.e. cooperating. Women effectively use this same listening style when someone has a personal problem. Accurate observation is necessary to succeed in most areas. In academia it is the only respected way of knowing. Men like the intellectual game.