First impressions matter. Whether you are taking the stage or sitting down for an interview, we are constantly being evaluated by others. Past research on prescriptive gender norms suggest that men are expected to present agentic traits (competent, independent, challenging) whereas women are expected to present communal traits (supportive, kind, cooperative; Eagly, 1987). In the workplace, these gender stereotypes bias employee evaluations in favor of men, where female applicants, employees, and leaders are evaluated more harshly—particularly in male-dominated environments (Fiske et al., 2007). These gender stereotypes influence our everyday behaviors, and gender differences in self-presentation may manifest in language usage. However, there is minimal evidence regarding the connection between social judgements and gendered language usage. This study uses a two-minute public speaking task to examine how a speaker’s gender and language usage influences how confident they are perceived to be. Specifically, we explore how the use of feminine (i.e., communal) and masculine (i.e., agentic) language influences perceived confidence as a function of speaker gender. While we did not find that speaker gender or gendered language influenced perceptions, we found elocution (speaking clearly and articulately) strongly predicted these perceptions. When controlling for elocution, there is an interaction such that men receive higher confidence ratings for displaying either agentic or communal behaviors, whereas women's ratings are unaffected by their display of agentic or communal behaviors. We discuss the implications of this study for advancing our understanding of perceptual biases against women and gender inequality in professional settings.