3 ms·

But what about the non-gendered "political" things, like trad unions, local political party organisations, universities, other non-gendered clubs, if women are

by rmc 9y ago

But what about the non-gendered "political" things, like trad unions, local political party organisations, universities, other non-gendered clubs, if women are really better at people skills, shouldn't them be dominating those areas in the same way men are dominating STEM? Can you find a group which, at the low levels is about 50:50, and yet women dominate the political/organisational level? How much counter-examples can you ignore before you say well maybe this "women are good at people skills, men are good at STEM". It seems like people really think "well men are better at basically everything"

nostrademons 9y ago
Most of those are gendered, but they're gendered in ways that are the "default" for society (i.e. masculine) and so you don't notice them. Traditional unions and local political parties, for example, represent industries and civic institutions that have historically been populated with men only. In industries that actually are 50/50 or majority female, you do see a number of women in top leadership positions. For example, the president of the national teacher's union is a woman [1], as are the three co-presidents of the national nurse's union [2], as is my alma mater's (which only went co-ed in 1974) college president [3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randi_Weingarten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randi_Weingarten [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Nurses_United https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Nurses_United [3] https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/president https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/president
alpsgolden 9y ago
Personally, I think "women are good at people skills, men are good at STEM" is a misleading simplification. Men and women have different strengths in people skills. It has been my observation that men are better at treating other people as abstractions, or with some detachment. I don't have it on hand, but I recall seeing some survey where it said women have a harder time working with people they personally dislike. Men are better at giving and taking criticism without making it personal. I think women on average find it much more emotionally taxing to run a team of twenty people where they have to fire people and give harsh feedback. (One other confounding variable, women also have big hormonal changes after childbirth and after menopause, so it's especially young women who have these problems). It seems like people really think "well men are better at basically everything" Seems to me that women are much better at taking care of small children, and being attentive and reactive to their needs, and doing mundane repetitive or helpful tasks, and men are better at almost all things dealing with the outside world, dealing with nature, and large scale organization. This is what I observe myself, it is consistent with the data, and it is exactly what you would expect based on the environment in which we evolved.
- adrienne 9y ago
  What a disgusting thing to say.

by rmc 9y ago

nostrademons 9y ago

Most of those are gendered, but they're gendered in ways that are the "default" for society (i.e. masculine) and so you don't notice them. Traditional unions and local political parties, for example, represent industries and civic institutions that have historically been populated with men only. In industries that actually are 50/50 or majority female, you do see a number of women in top leadership positions. For example, the president of the national teacher's union is a woman [1], as are the three co-presidents of the national nurse's union [2], as is my alma mater's (which only went co-ed in 1974) college president [3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randi_Weingarten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randi_Weingarten [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Nurses_United https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Nurses_United [3] https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/president https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/president

alpsgolden 9y ago

Personally, I think "women are good at people skills, men are good at STEM" is a misleading simplification. Men and women have different strengths in people skills. It has been my observation that men are better at treating other people as abstractions, or with some detachment. I don't have it on hand, but I recall seeing some survey where it said women have a harder time working with people they personally dislike. Men are better at giving and taking criticism without making it personal. I think women on average find it much more emotionally taxing to run a team of twenty people where they have to fire people and give harsh feedback. (One other confounding variable, women also have big hormonal changes after childbirth and after menopause, so it's especially young women who have these problems). It seems like people really think "well men are better at basically everything" Seems to me that women are much better at taking care of small children, and being attentive and reactive to their needs, and doing mundane repetitive or helpful tasks, and men are better at almost all things dealing with the outside world, dealing with nature, and large scale organization. This is what I observe myself, it is consistent with the data, and it is exactly what you would expect based on the environment in which we evolved.

adrienne 9y ago
What a disgusting thing to say.