Fixing The Economy Is Women's Work

Washington Post:

While the pinstripe crowd fixates on troubled assets, a stalled stimulus and mortgage remedies, it turns out that a more sure-fire financial fix is within our grasp -- and has been for years. New research says a healthy dose of estrogen may be the key not only to our fiscal recovery, but also to economic strength worldwide.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[NedroidPrime]

Wow, yet another cr@p piece....

Seriously, for many years I have heard women calling for equality, and I have always supported that. What I have seen though is women that want the same benefits, but also additional exceptions to the rules.

In Ohio, they tried to pass a law requiring that every woman gets 8 weeks paid time off when first hired. Just in case they got pregnant. That is not equality, in any way.

Then I see stories like this, and I wonder why exactly does the writer have such a problem with men?

Equality means you get the good and the bad. It isn't as peachy being a man as many people seem to think...

[JoeBlough]

Won't they get bra marks on everything?

[Furby]

Yes but they won't show on account of the cum marks everywhere.

[h0tr0d]

Of course this is silly. The richest and most successful companies were also the richest and most successful companies....BEFORE they hired women. They are just the companies that can afford to adhere to affirmative action. Please show me a study that shows direct cause and effect from female leadership....of course that doesn't exist. Where are the companies that were started by women ?....calling Avon !

[CharlieMarlowe]

What is even sillier is that no one has pointed out how ironic it is that the early feminists rejected the idea of women as nurturers because it was believed that these traditional female traits kept women out of positions of power (hence the idea that biology is not destiny). Now, as it suits their purpose, nurturing is being stressed, although there has never been an adequate reason given as to why businesses and governments need "mommies" instead of leaders. ( If you are nurturing at work, does that mean you are treating your colleagues as children?)

Or even sillier, that these women are defining success based on achievements in the male institutions of business, politics, law, etc. that they decry.

[tigerlyly]

Actually it does:

"To see why people continue to believe that women are the more emotional sex, the scientists devised their straightforward experiment. They showed 48 men and women (college students) pictures of faces depicting anger, sadness, fear or disgust for three seconds. Beneath each picture was a sentence describing a plausible reason for that emotion

Both men and women attributed women's emotional expressions more to their emotional nature and men's to the situation—despite being given situational information to explain every face.

A study published last year in Psychological Sciencefound something similar—namely, that women's angry expressions are attributed to their emotional nature ("she is an angry person" and "not in control" of her emotions) whereas men's identical expressions are explained by external circumstances (a job interviewer got him mad). As the new study shows, this belief stems not from what men and women actually do but from the explanations given for their behaviors. What we believe determines what we see."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/203458?from=rss

[Furby]

Why do men feel they have been successful? There is no evidence to support that statement.

[CharlieMarlowe]

Listen to some Bach, then get back to me on that one.

[JScott]

Well there is Iceland who went thru a real real bad patch but now they have a woman leader, and the icleandic banks that are surviving are the one staffed by women.
And when you think about it it's usually them who have to budget the income in families so this wouldn't seem surprising really.

[CharlieMarlowe]

That was cultural. Because of Iceland's relative isolation, they still retian the elements of the old hero society of their founding Viking ancestors. Reckless behaviour and posturing were virtutes in hero societies. They are just learning how to behave in the modern world.

[bebecca]

This article is particularly timely for me. I've done corporate real estate for many years and I'm unemployed. I had an interview on Friday for an upper management real estate position that I'm almost positive I won't get. I have a theory that I've tested, women don't hire into (from the outside) for these types of positions, we're promoted from within (I know there are exceptions to this but generally this is the rule). I have been pretty successful over my career negotiating deals and managing people because I have a different approach than most men (and it's a male-dominated profession), I enter into a negotiation to work out a mutually beneficial deal rather than "win". I've gotten several promotions over the years but up the corporate ladder.

[mamacat]

The article states that big companies with three or more women in senior management did better than companies that did not. Here is my take on the meaning of that statement:

The crucial factor is not that women, in general, are any better or worse than men at decision making, but rather that any major company which today does not have at least a few women in senior management has demonstrated that it is not open to new ideas, and thus is less well prepared to face today's challenges than a company that is open to ideas from all sectors of its workforce.

I can think of plenty of women whose advice I would never recommend, but any company that automatically excludes women from its top management has unwisely narrowed the available resource pool from which it can select qualified personnel. Statistically speaking, a company which is willing to accept good leadership from any source, and not just from tired old white men, is more likely to prosper than one which does not.

[Furby]

I can think of plenty more men than women who's advice I would not only not recommend, but not follow myself. Women nurture, men compete. What kind of a world do you want to live in?

[Malkin71]

Women don't compete. Hmmm.

Women compete with each other all the time.

Ask any guy how many more (up from zero usually) women hit ON THEM after they get a ring.

[swift goat pet for truth]

The comments here are interesting. Lots of women. Good.
I like strong women.

In my house, my wife is studying for her degree.
She needs to take her national certification in a week.

Over the last 3 years (and more), I cook more than half the time, did the laundry most of the time, took care of our kid about half the time, shopped, cleaned house, and took care of all the finances. And I work a job that pays the bills. We have no debt save the mortgages. For two houses.

I told her over and over, her main job is to study and pass the certification. (Brag here: She also graduated one of three with honors.)

Point is: There are some men who can handle their share and more than their share.

[mamacat]

I knew a woman who put her career on hold, supported her husband while he got his degree, and lived to regret it. Once he finished school, he left her and went off to Europe to pursue his dreams. Glad to hear that you are supporting your wife, but there are no guarantees in life. Good luck.

[NedroidPrime]

I know quite a few guys that had that done to them by women.

So don't act all superior, women are just as bad as men

[Chaimirija]

Do you have a single brother? lol

[drkazmd65]

Found myself in a similar situation with my wife c1995-2003 - while mywife was working on her MS & PhD. Other than not having kids (and the requisite expenses and time constraints) - I had 7-8 years of being the primary grocery shopper, food cooker, bill payer, and bread winner (I was employed full-time), in addition to the 'usual' husband duties as lawn-care specialist, garbage toter and fixit man.

Now we are both employed adults, and I still do most of the bill paying, all my own laundry, the range of 'man' work and at least half the cooking, grocery shopping, and a sizable chunk of the housecleaning.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Chaimirija]

You'd be surprised how many men still think the wife ought to do all the cooking and cleaning and work FT...

[mjeffn]

...and this would be Sarah Palin the article is speaking of?

[HelloFunnyWorld]

LOL ....
P.S. Sshh - We like Sarah Palin, we went to a number of Palin Parties last year that were so much fun....

[babyboomerorig]

This is funny. We women have been running families for eons. We can calculate exactly what's left in the bank, know everything that's in the cupboards, frig, laundry room, which kid is outgrowing their clothes and when husbands need new underwear. It's always been our responsibility to put these "little things" in the home and know exactly what bills are owed when and for how much. We can automatically calculate how much will be left over till the next pay day, how much we need to put aside each week to meet the needs (not wants) of everyone in the household. We know how many miles we can put on the car and how to combine outings to incorporate a dozen things into one trip from the house.

This way, there always seems to be this mysterious money that appears when the family needs a treat...like Dairy Queen.

Men have always thought of us as not being able to balance a checkbook....but we usually have it figured out before the checkbook ever comes out of a drawer. To run anything else, just add some zeros and we can handle it. Leave the garbage out of the equation and let us know how much is coming in...we can handle it from there.

[vslay]

And what is a frig?

[KaLaPa111]

LMAO!!!

[mjeffn]

OK...you're hired.

[HelloFunnyWorld]

That's right, Boys.
Yes
We
Can.

And now ~
Dont run off to
Try
and
Co-opt some of our bright-est....

You
wont get far.

See,
Elizabeth Edwards took care of this
When
She reminded us
That
Today
It is
Women who do not have respect for
Women.

So any woman you co-opt
Will
be of no use.

Soft Skills indeed.

Here's to us
And a nice tall
Glass
of
Veuve Clicquot

[vslay]

You know how many miles to drive but can't change the freaking oil. Come on lady, get off your high horse, you sound like a miserable person to be around.

[SmolderingRuin]

This coming from someone who doesn't even know what a frig is?

[mamacat]

Sometimes the male, sometimes the female, handles the money. It is not so important who does it, as long as it gets done.
I know some families where the woman has the financial brains, and some where the man does. Where things go really badly is when neither has any financial sense, and that happens way too often.

It is absurd to maintain that one sex has more sense than the other. The thing is to not minimise the potential usefulness of either sex.

Companies which automatically deny women the chance to compete for the top jobs are eliminating half of their workforce from having the chance to contribute to the company's success.

[Epiphany2b]

I hope all the critics of Sotomayer have read this report. Can anyone say "wise Latina woman"? Testosterone tends to take chances and wants to win sometimes at all costs. Doesn't take the time to think about cause/effect, and the end results. However, there are high testosterone woman and low testosterone men who break the norms.

[mjeffn]

huh???

[tigerlyly]

I'm as astounded as you!

[Malkin71]

I do find it odd that when every statistic or measurement (in the past) indicated male superiority, we were to ignore that "fact" and just keep chanting, everyone is equal and everyone is the same...

Now, that women have some evidence on their side....we hear, "It's time to admit the obvious. Men and women are different, and our management styles are different."

I guess, previously, it was time to DENY the obvious???

[HelloFunnyWorld]

Re: "I guess, previously, it was time to DENY the obvious???"

All
Truth
is at first
Ignored
Dismissed
Ridiculed
Violently Opposed
Before
It is finally accepted
as being
Self Evident.
At which point
You win.

So said some one whom we are unable to credit for copyright as their name escapes us at the moment. And apologies for that.

[swift goat pet for truth]

There is no "Truth".

Only Facts and Points of View.

[Malkin71]

Wow...

I want whatever you are on....

What you say has truth to it...it simply does not apply to what I am saying.

I am talking more about the liberal notion that you can pretend the world is what you want it to be rather than what it is....

When the "stats" proved the opposite of what we SHOULD believe, we should ignore them....as soon as they do prove what liberals want them to....NOW it's time to admit _____.

[thegirlnextdoor]

This is old news. It has been observed for along time that companies where women were part of the top management did better. Women tend to nurture a company, a client, the task, the way they nurture children. They don't want to be first or biggest they just want it to work right.

[CharlieMarlowe]

That wasn't my experience while working in one public library system, Maybe single women tend to be less nurturing. At the time my girlfriend was working in an all-female library. After one year she started to develop physical symptoms from stress. She only lasted two years working with women. She was only happy working for men whom she insisted were much more fair, kind an just-far less emotional. Interestingly, the top student in my library course refused to work in libraries after she did her first two week practicum. A mere two weeks with female bosses was all it took to turn her off library work forever. I remember one day in class talking about our practicum experience and she said rather loudly that she was never working for women again.

[Chaimirija]

Hear the same from many nurses

[NedroidPrime]

Yeah, tell that to HP!

Sheesh, get over yourself. Women are not better than men, we are equal remember?

[desertman]

"A bunch of white male brainiacs won't usually reach the best conclusions" certainly says a lot about the writer's background.

What I have found to be true is when a group of highly educated people start engaging in a bit of group think the alarm bells should start sounding. I think this stems from the fact people tend to confer wisdom upon those with academic credentials. Nothing is further from the truth.

Wisdom is not taught.

[Harmony1812]

Intelligience + knowledge + the desire to apply them both = wisdom

[WoodyCPM]

You left out one of the most important ingredients, experience.

[bosunj]

This brilliant morsel by someone calling herself ‘Katty’! Duhmerican’t women - dedicated misandrists one and all!

[tbone99]

Probably cuz women exec's are wasting company money on alchohol, coke and whores to entertain prospects with.

[tbone99]

meant "aren't" wasting

[NedroidPrime]

Wow, and that is S.O.P. for all male executives?

Pull your head out, the sun is shining...