The reality of sex difference is still seen in the different careers and career paths that men and women tend to take. A lot of effort is being expended on trying to change this, and egalitarians blame the differences purely on cultural legacies that need to be overcome, but I would suggest there is something more fundamental going on.
As Harvey Mansfield puts it (in a paragraph that must have seen a surge in hate mail!),
Men have the highest offices, the leading reputations; they make the discoveries, conceive the theories, win the prizes, start the companies, score the touchdowns. Men run things; women follow, accompany, imitate, elaborate, develop. This is not to say that women do not excel, but that they seem still to excel as women, in accordance with the traditional stereotype of women and not the new gender-neutral stereotype.
Men and women just are different. There will be women who rise to the highest political office, to the top of the boardroom, who excel in sporting endeavour, who make scientific breakthroughs, but there will always be more men who do this than women, because these are the things that men do.
Where women do rise to the top in advance of men is those areas which require more empathizing and less systemizing. There is nothing wrong with this, but something is wrong when we turn our economy over almost entirely to industries that favour female skills over male ones. To create a society where there is no space for men to be men is dangerous – to men themselves, but also to women and children. Sadly, this seems to be what we are doing...
3 comments:
Just wondering what is 'male' about a motorbike or fishing or boats? 'That's just how it is', is hardly a persuasive argument. I feel like I'm marking an undergrad essay here, but there's something very familiar here about someone being uncritical of their own opinions. A little more thought might lead you to recognise that a significant reason for men being in the highest offices is because of exclusion. If you've ever worked in a secular environment (and reflected upon it) it's very much in evidence. You might just label me as a 'wimpy' male, but a little more critical thought would help your argument greatly.
Did you read the previous post Steve? That gives the context...
Sorry, I have now. However, in much research, only a very small difference between male and female behaviour can be attributed to brain 'make up'. This small difference is all so often used to explain and even legitimate unequal life chances, job status, salaries etc between men and women. It seems that God has made men and women differently, but not as differently as society and economy might suggest!
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