[Womoz] [womensenews] IT Jobs Offer Growth, But Women Are Bailing Out

[Majken Connor]

On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 7:03 PM, Leigh Honeywell <leigh at hypatia.ca> wrote:

> On 10-06-28 03:38 PM, Tiffney Mortensen wrote:
>
>> I might be totally wrong, but I don't see how men, unlike women,
>>>> would ask more money just because they are men.
>>>>
>>>
> The short answer to this is that women are pretty consistently, repeatedly
> punished in our culture for asking for stuff and negotiating about stuff.
>  So it's not "because they are men", it's "because that's what men are
> trained by culture to do and women are trained not to do".  See below.
>
>
>  I think culturally women are conditioned to refrain from asking for
>> anything, being seen as natural "givers" and "nurturers." Even in
>> societies where gender equality seems more or less obvious, women can
>> be less likely to make demands that may be perceived as
>> confrontational. I'd need to dig up the studies I'm thinking of to
>> back it up, but men in general are more likely to object to being
>> mistreated and more likely to ask for more than what they are
>> offered.
>>
>> Tiffney
>>
>
> There's a great book about the issues around gender and negotiation:
>
> http://womendontask.com
>
> I can't recommend it enough.
>
> Some short summaries of the work are here:
> http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2007/07/30/negotiation_gap/index.htmland here:
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/29/AR2007072900827.html
>
> -Leigh
>
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Not discounting the cultural factors, because certainly the solution to this
will be cultural - encouraging women that it's ok to ask for more  - but
there is also scientific basis that women take fewer risks. There is also
enough out there linking testosterone to aggressive behaviour, and we know
that men have more of that than women do. I don't point this out to excuse
it, but if the cause really is rooted in biology then different tactics
might be needed to solve the problem.

Though interestingly, one of the issues with gender equality is _men_ not
demanding enough in our society. I have several friends in Sweden, all with
children and all households with two working parents. Each parent gets 6
months parental leave - usually the mother takes hers first, then the father
takes his when she goes back to work, so the child is home with a parent for
at least the first year.  It's not at all unexpected for a father to leave
work to pick up a sick child from daycare.

Personally I've struggled with the side-effect of feminism that taking care
of your own child is seen as disappointing, unambitious, unimportant.  I
would really love to see a shift in our society towards what my swedish
friends get to have.

-Majken
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