Sunday, July 20, 2008
Mismeasure of Women
Mismeasure of Women: Why Women Are Not the Better Sex, the Inferior Sex, or the Opposite Sex also by Carol Tarviz (Touchstone, 1993)
“Tavris, a social psychologist … presents a comprehensive analysis of how women are measured against men in society. She examines why women are not inferior, superior, or the same as men. Comparisons have led to labeling men as ‘normal’ and women who do not perform physically, sexually, mentally, or emotionally like them as ‘abnormal.’" From the Amazon review.
Even though she ends up in a better place, Ms. Tavris has written another book devoted to “what women are NOT.” It seems as if we must, always and first, go through the litany, that exercise in futility: itemizing all the faults, failures, problems, limitations of women before we can attempt to see the gold in the ore, the diamond in the rough, the women hidden inside all the stereotypes.
It’s as if we cannot ever freely go on a vacation without, first, doing the mental checklist of all the possible things we forgot to do, buy, turn on or off before we spring free for a rest from all that onerous stuff.
When I speak about “outstanding women in leadership, today,” lauding those women who have earned our respect, admiration and emulation, the first questions I hear from the audience almost always are these:
“BUT [of course, the BUT}, what about……
Work-family balance?
Sacrificing for the children?
Failed marriages?
The home?
Him?
Even though the data does not support any of these “yeah, BUTs” anymore, still women give them hearing and credence as if those ancient demons, those “old wives’ tales,” were still valid in today’s dynamic, changed, 21st century life.
The data supports an accelerated path toward gender equality. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, 42 percent of the 10,500 Olympians who competed were females -- the highest percentage ever, according to IOC. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, it was 34.2 per cent. Anita DeFrantz, chairman of the IOC's Women & Sports and a former bronze medalist in rowing for the U.S. team, predicts that women will reach 50-50 parity at the 2012 London Games. The U.S. sent 285 female Olympians to Beijing -- a record number and just 26 athletes short of the 311 male U.S. Olympians.
Unfortunately, women echo the doubts and negative stereotypes that they hear, see, read and experience all around them. So, before Mismeasure can get to the heart of her positive message, Ms. Tavris believes she must first give all of the myths and the mistaken assumptions credit and ink:
It’s all her fault!
It’s all HIS fault!
There outta be a LAW!
Her message is there, hidden under the usual detritus: the message of the data says that there really are few substantive differences based on gender that a little education, effort, perseverance, and ambition can’t overcome.
Some day, and soon I hope, we will start the story not by enumerating all of the things women are NOT, but celebrating and cherishing all of the things that women ARE.
“Tavris, a social psychologist … presents a comprehensive analysis of how women are measured against men in society. She examines why women are not inferior, superior, or the same as men. Comparisons have led to labeling men as ‘normal’ and women who do not perform physically, sexually, mentally, or emotionally like them as ‘abnormal.’" From the Amazon review.
Even though she ends up in a better place, Ms. Tavris has written another book devoted to “what women are NOT.” It seems as if we must, always and first, go through the litany, that exercise in futility: itemizing all the faults, failures, problems, limitations of women before we can attempt to see the gold in the ore, the diamond in the rough, the women hidden inside all the stereotypes.
It’s as if we cannot ever freely go on a vacation without, first, doing the mental checklist of all the possible things we forgot to do, buy, turn on or off before we spring free for a rest from all that onerous stuff.
When I speak about “outstanding women in leadership, today,” lauding those women who have earned our respect, admiration and emulation, the first questions I hear from the audience almost always are these:
“BUT [of course, the BUT}, what about……
Work-family balance?
Sacrificing for the children?
Failed marriages?
The home?
Him?
Even though the data does not support any of these “yeah, BUTs” anymore, still women give them hearing and credence as if those ancient demons, those “old wives’ tales,” were still valid in today’s dynamic, changed, 21st century life.
The data supports an accelerated path toward gender equality. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, 42 percent of the 10,500 Olympians who competed were females -- the highest percentage ever, according to IOC. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, it was 34.2 per cent. Anita DeFrantz, chairman of the IOC's Women & Sports and a former bronze medalist in rowing for the U.S. team, predicts that women will reach 50-50 parity at the 2012 London Games. The U.S. sent 285 female Olympians to Beijing -- a record number and just 26 athletes short of the 311 male U.S. Olympians.
Unfortunately, women echo the doubts and negative stereotypes that they hear, see, read and experience all around them. So, before Mismeasure can get to the heart of her positive message, Ms. Tavris believes she must first give all of the myths and the mistaken assumptions credit and ink:
It’s all her fault!
It’s all HIS fault!
There outta be a LAW!
Her message is there, hidden under the usual detritus: the message of the data says that there really are few substantive differences based on gender that a little education, effort, perseverance, and ambition can’t overcome.
Some day, and soon I hope, we will start the story not by enumerating all of the things women are NOT, but celebrating and cherishing all of the things that women ARE.
# posted by ChampionBoards.com @ 6:02 PM 
