May, 2008 Archive

Gender Issues In The Presidential Race

May 31st, 2008 by Jsanders in Women's Issues

Eleanor Clift on Newsweek.com writes that Hillary Clinton needs to muster the grace to lose properly. She quotes a professor who freely admits voting for Clinton because she was a woman – given that Clinton and Obama were near identical on the issues. She brings up some good points. And I see both sides

Click here to read the full article


Gender differences – the math controversy

May 30th, 2008 by Jsanders in Biological Differences

World Science has an interesting article today about the controversial debate about math ability in women compared to men. Remember Lawrence Summers of Harvard lost his job over this. I’ve always claimed that what he said was true, just clumsily articulated at the wrong place and time.

Basically scientists now say girls can easily make up biological differences in spatial thinking. I’ve been preaching that for years too.

Here’s a peek at the article:

  • Girls are as good at math as boys giv­en the prop­er en­vi­ron­ment.

  • Males may have an edge in spa­tial think­ing abil­i­ties, which are use­ful in math—and this ad­van­tage may be very an­cient, ev­o­lu­tion­ar­ily speak­ing.

  • Deep-root­ed though this dif­fer­ence may be, fe­males can sur­mount it with just a lit­tle work


  • Click here for full article


Gender Communication – is “guys” okay?

May 28th, 2008 by Jsanders in Gender Communication

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette Now News has an interesting discussion about using the term “guys” when referring to women. Only a few opinions are included, and the editor gave equal representation to both sides of course. For the record, I am of the opinion that “guys” is an acceptable term for either sex in a casual environment. It has become gender-neutral. In more formal situations, or when women have clear position priority over the person speaking, “guys” would not be appropriate or effective.

Click here to read other comments


Gender issues in girls sports

May 26th, 2008 by Jsanders in Biological Differences, Gender Stereotypes, Women's Issues

Boys and girls are different – we all know this – yet researchers who point out the gender differences are unfairly described as “controversial.”

In a forthcoming book Warrior Girls: Protecting Our Daughters Against the Injury Epidemic in Women’s Sports, the American writer Michael Sokolove explores why young female athletes are more injury prone than their male counterparts. But the best part of the article is at the end…

In the course of his research, Mr. Sokolove discovered some startling facts:

Click here for the full article from OttawaCitizen.com


May 24th, 2008 by Jsanders in Women's Issues

ABC7 KGO in San Francisco has an excellent article titled “Are Successful Women Avoiding Motherhood?” A better word for successful would be professional, but the article still cites intriguing statistics about the impact of full-time work on marriage and family choices (perceived as forced or not) and the number of women vs. men who have children and a spouse.

Click here for the article


May 24th, 2008 by Jsanders in Behavorial Differences, Biological Differences, Communication Style Differences, Gender Stereotypes

Interesting discussion about gender differences posted on the blog for First Community Church of Columbus Ohio. Here’s an excerpt:

“We found that we couldn’t go very far with generalizations about gender without running into two other factors – individual differences and family of origin. Using the apt analogy of a three-legged stool contributed by a participant, we ended up feeling that the formation of each person stands on those three legs; gender, individual personality traits, and the family in which you grow up.”

Click here for full discussion


New WSJ section for professional women

May 23rd, 2008 by Jsanders in Women's Issues

The Wall Street Journal has added a section entitled Journal Women to its website. It contains several interesting and valuable articles, videos, discussion boards, and more. Business and professional women, check it out!

Click here


Impact of Women in Executive Suite

May 22nd, 2008 by Jsanders in Women's Issues

Mark Anderson tackles Catalyst’s research in this article from the Ottowa Citizen. Catalyst reported quite a while ago that companies with more women on their boards and/or in their executive suites experience greater financial results. Anderson says their methodology was flawed.

I honestly don’t know if that is true or not, but Anderson does bring up some thought-provoking arguments. However, he totally lost me, and offended me, by his closing comment about babysitting. Why did you have to get petty and offensive, Mark? I guess an effort for ratings/readers thing. Yuk.

Click here for the full article.


Sexism in politics

May 21st, 2008 by Jsanders in Gender Stereotypes, Women's Issues

In her Washington Post column Real Life Politics, Ruth Marcus shares Q&A about sexism in the current Presidential election.

click here for the discussion


Gender differences across generations

May 20th, 2008 by Jsanders in Behavorial Differences

The blog The S.O.B. speaks details an interview on Forbes.com with leading generational expert Christina Simon about the 4 generations now working together in corporations. the interview included this excerpt

In which generation are the differences between men and women greatest?

When it comes to social values, women in every generation are more oriented toward other people, and they have a greater sense of dedication and service. Men are generally more individualistic. When it comes to professional preferences, although women put more emphasis on flexibility, the newest generations, especially Y, care more about traditionally “masculine” work values, such as income levels and opportunities for promotion.

click here for the full interview