“At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, some of the most interesting discussions revolved around whether we would be in the same mess today if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters,” columnist Nicholas Kristof reported. He noted how “Wall Street is one of the most male-dominated bastions in the business world; senior staff meetings resemble a urologist’s waiting room.” Aside from issues of fairness, there’s evidence this lack of gender diversity results is second-rate decision-making, Kristof said. Research has shown that men are more likely than women to make high-risk bets when under financial pressure and surrounded by other males of similar status.
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28 Comments
Oh yes it is true, “ If a man said something in the woods where no woman can hear him. Is he still wrong?
Yes he is! Sure lets not make it the political parties fault let it be blamed on it being men involved. Sexism is always a good deflection of the cause.
I agree, “writerdog” –
This is a silly topic for a thread.
So let me try to drift it a tad:
Back when cell phones first got started I had a geeky friend who built a scanner that could pick up conversations of mobile phones passing by.
One night, at a party, he turned on his receiver and we listened to first-generation cell phone traffic. I’m as liberal as anyone but that evening just about every conversation exposed just about prejudicial cliche you can imagine was grabbed from the ether.
White guys talked about how they screwed someone in business. Black guys talked about how they screwed some woman. Black girls talked about gettin’ “a ‘bortion.” White girls vented that the diamond ring they’d been given was actually a cubic zirconium!!!
(And, no. I’m not certain about any of those people’s ethnicity. It was radio; theatre of the mind.)
So maybe the women at Lehman Brothers had to trade like men to fit in with the crowd. Maybe Lehman Brothers was more reckless than Lehman Sisters might have been.
What we finally should realize is the problem with Lehman was they were Lehman PEOPLE. And people tend to take advantage of whatever advantage they perceive they have.
Everyone on the planet has an “ism” to fall back on: Racism, Sexism, Classism, Intellectualism, Fundamentalism, Conservatism, Liberalism….
We’d all probably be better off if we backed away from our “isms” a bit sometimes.
Here is a better topic:
If your aunt had balls, would she be your uncle?
Another stupid topic question, not worthy of response except to label as worthless.
“Research has shown that men are more likely than women to make high-risk bets when under financial pressure and surrounded by other males of similar status.”
Men are competitive while women are cooperative.
As good an argument as any for having women more in charge of things. It aint the stone age anymore. Some yahoo with a bad toupee and maxed out on Extenz aint the best ideal for who should be making important decisions.
“As good an argument as any for having women more in charge of things. It aint the stone age anymore. Some yahoo with a bad toupee and maxed out on Extenz aint the best ideal for who should be making important decisions.”—BlowJ
That’s right BlowJ, just sit there and let mom do it for you.
I speak con. Let me translate for bawks.
Ugh UHG! GRUUUUNT!
OK. Time to stir things up.
Like women don’t make totally illogical decisions based just on emotion or how they feel.
Except for my mom.
Oh, and my wife.
Whew..
We would have never heard of it?
(kidding folks kidding)
Of course it would make a difference! How many women in politics have had to resign due to being involved in a sex or bribe scandel? I’m sure there are some, but not nearly in the number of their male peers. Some of you may cling to the stereotype of women making decesions based on emotion…but what if those emotions were compassion, empathy, and thoughfulness…is that a bad thing? As a whole, I think women are more pragmatic…and we don’t base our choices on ego or our self image as much. Generally we have more integrity than most men…how many single parent households are headed by a man rather than a woman? Not nearly as many. Men can walk away from their responsibilities much easier than a woman can…I’m not saying that there aren’t irresponible women out there…but you won’t find as many women as men who shirk their duty to their families. The same goes for running a business, running the governemnt, or running the household.
I know I have rarely worked with a male nurse who did an outstanding job. They don’t pay as much attention to detail, and I have worked with some who were less than ethical and lazy. I know there are wonderful male nurses out there…but I have met very few in my 20 yrs as a nurse. I’d much rather work under a female supervisor because the expectations are simply higher and as a result, the quality of the healthcare delivered is higher.
BTW, I think this is a great thread!
I don’t care what gender you are. If you’re stupid, you’re stupid. Having a larger crowd of stupid, just makes them much more stupid.
Rather than gender being the culprit, I would have to say greed was the most motivating factor in the meltdown of Wall Street. And the fact there were obviously no regulations to worry about, then pure greed took over.
I can’t imagine the world being worse if the women dominated it instead of the men. In many ways, I’m sure it would be much better.
We are better off having women included in decision making positions. Males are often too quick to want war and to allow business to take advantage of others. A balanced voice results in fairer treatment.
As long as the women don’t get ideological, I’ve found women to be better managers. It’s because they are usually more pragmatic and, at the same time more open to innovation than male managers.
Would make for an interesting survey among top female and male executives, but from my own observations, female executives in top positions appear to be less prone to corporate ‘bling’ than males. That is, they don’t go on drunken junkets or spend wasteful dollars the ’spa’ set like their male counterparts.
totoinks, I agree with you. Gender has nothing to do with being stupid.
And Mary–I have had both male and female nurses. That has nothing to do with gender either. I’ve had a couple of male nurses that were just too lazy to do their job. and recently I had a couple of male nurses who were outstanding.
And the same goes for cops. I recently had to talk to a female cop about an issue and she was absolutely lazy AND stupid.
Mary_Caruso
Posted February 11, 2009 at 8:53 am | Permalink
I can’t imagine the world being worse if the women dominated it instead of the men. In many ways, I’m sure it would be much better.
_________________________________________________
There must be some perfectly logical reason why men are in charge.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be.
Mary the difference is that men are more verbal in our communication. We have to explain with words exactly what we mean. Women are more intuitive in their communication, they use body and facial expressions to communicate.
What does that mean? Men have to say out loud “ I HAD SEX LAST NIGHT!” to other men.
Women just look at the other woman and smile it conveys all in the manner they smile.
So the man is often overheard and caught, the woman is not overheard so they can only be caught by another woman.
There must be some perfectly logical reason why men are in charge.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be.
The logical reason XXX… Its because the women let us think we are.LOL
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XXX
Posted February 11, 2009 at 11:18 am | Permalink
Mary_Caruso
Posted February 11, 2009 at 8:53 am | Permalink
I can’t imagine the world being worse if the women dominated it instead of the men. In many ways, I’m sure it would be much better.
_________________________________________________
There must be some perfectly logical reason why men are in charge.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be.
==============================
Because our society is not under “Amazonian rule.” :)
It’s a male-oriented society with certain stigma attached to males as role models and it’s ingrained very early on.
research has shown that men are more likely to engage in risky behavior in the presense of attractive women. (that is why the waitstaff at Vegas casinos dress they way they do)
I don’t think it really matters whether men or women are in charge; gender roles are overrated. Individuals of either sex reach up (or down) to meet expectations. Managers, bosses, leaders will do what they can get away with.
I have worked with as many female jerks as male, and as many compassionate, caring male managers as female. Overall, we project our expected gender behaviors when that is not necessarily the case.
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brian_nuevo
Posted February 11, 2009 at 11:52 am | Permalink
research has shown that men are more likely to engage in risky behavior in the presense of attractive women. (that is why the waitstaff at Vegas casinos dress they way they do)
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A bodacious pair of ‘ta ta’s’ has caused more than one male to leave unnecessarily large tips. :)
“Regular
Posted February 11, 2009 at 11:56 am | Permalink
A bodacious pair of ‘ta ta’s’ has caused more than one male to leave unnecessarily large tips. :)”
Been to Scotch and Sirloin have you?
:)
“There must be some perfectly logical reason why men are in charge.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be.”
1.) Brute force
2.) A LONG history of “that’s just the way it is”
3.) Books (written by men) that say “that’s the way it is supposed to be” which purport to have a divine source.
Silly but successful basis from which to marginalize half of the human race.Maybe we should try something different since it hasn’t worked out so well.
The majority of comments on this site perfectly illuminate the reasons why I left Wichita when I was done with school — and stayed away permanently. Women of Wichita, know this: in other places, you don’t have to put up with these fringe sentiments about male superiority.
It doesn’t bother me…if a man thinks he’s superior to me, than I know he’s not.
I got a complement for the fact that when ever I cleaned the women’s room at the store. I always put the seats back down on the toilets. I told them I had been married for over thirty years and the woman told me to tell my wife she had me well trained!
writerdog,
The google gadget, “Quotes of the Day,” has this as one of today’s quotes:
“The male is a domestic animal which, if treated with firmness, can be trained to do most things.”
– Jilly Cooper
I had to look up Jilly Cooper as I hadn’t ever heard her name. She is an English author. Guess she figured out much the same your former female coworkers did. ;-)
I found this interview with Jill Cooper and she is highly entertaining! For a few laughs (most of which I identify with!):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-525164/Jilly-Cooper-The-Male-menopause-great-excuse-men-behave-outlandishly.html