In article <38DD3BD9.1FD05A50 at hotmail.com>,
notmyaddress at hotmail.com (S L Forsburg) wrote:
>Does this explain the low numbers of women in academic science--
>is this point of view (which might be called the "get a life!"
>viewpoint :-) more typically female? IMHO, men often have a
>stronger sense that they fit in a hierarchy, and they are
worried >about how they appear to the others in that structure,
so they
>are willing to sacrifice their own feelings for the appearance.
>Thus, the competitive, macho science of 80 hour weeks, since
that's how you
>move up the hierarchy-- because everything is a competition.
Maybe it's not so much that men have a better sense of how to fit
in, but more due to the differences in how men and women view
success. I know I'm making quite a broad generalization here, but
I think men are taught that to be successful they must have a
successful career and makes lots of money. And to play all those
career games, because their ability to 'move up' is judged on
those terms. Most women that I know have a much broader view of
success, one that includes having a nice place to live, a
significant other to share their lives with, a family, etc.
There's less pressure for a successful career, at least in the
circle I grew up in. (On the other hand, my mother always
believed
success meant marrying a rich doctor).
> Maybe women are more likely to get annoyed
>with this and move out; their sense of self worth not coming
>from what the macho guy down the hall says, but from
themselves. >Maybe the macho men are secretly more worried
about what the rest >of the hierarchy thinks, whereas the women
can leave it behind.
>>Well, its a thought. :-)
And a very good thought indeed! I do think that the more macho
bluster you see, the more insecure that person is.
-giner
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