dispatches from the new world of work

Mars vs Venus: Women Want to Get Better!

(But Not Us!)

"On MBAs Men Are from Mars and Women from Venus: Women MBA graduates make better managers as they gain intrinsic benefits such as confidence, credibility and assertiveness, job satisfaction and interpersonal skills. This makes them more productive. Men, however are more blinkered and see their MBA only as a way to gain status and pay."—The Times (London), from research at Brunel University/01.20.2005

Comments?

Tom Peters posted this on 02/01/05.

Comments

I donÂ´t want to be too technical in this, but I think some kind of technical information should be present in this debate.

Just some notes about personality and itÂ´s development.

Carl Jung discovered that men share a feminine side and women a masculine side.

Donald Winnicott discovered the special need of men and women for a facilitating environment, an environment of love and empathy.

Heinz Kohut discovered two different psychological structures: the ideals and the goals that are empathically fostered.

From all these psychologists and my personal experience, first with myself and at work with others, I get the idea that if men are more heroically shaped is because they are linked to a phase of development in their personalities that is reflected in an aggressive form.

On the other side,if women have a more empathic approach to life does not exclude them from having also their heroic side.

Carl Jung used to call psychotherapy an opus contra natura, a work against nature, why? because it tries to transform personality, that which seems to be more permanent and easy to identify in any person, their nature. Following this idea, I think any man can develop an empathic personality (a hard work, never easy) and women can develop their heroic side. Gandhi is a perfect example of a man that embraced a way of life that we could call antiheroic. If all men were aggressive and with no empathic qualities simply there could not be men psychologists or at least, not good ones.

What I think men should do is to put themselves more in touch with their souls and donÂ´t just say. Ok, IÂ´m a man I canÂ´t help being so weak, so agressive and so poorly empathic. You can know a lot of quantitative analysis and still be a complete stupid. But that is something you will not change with an MBA.

Posted by felix gerena at February 1, 2005 2:32 PM

I agree with Felix! The Mars/Venus debate is filled with shoddy social science and overly anecdotal evidence. I recommend a Backlash-like book on the subject that will make you think: Same Difference: How Gender Myths Are Hurting Our Relationships, Our Children, and Our Jobs by Rosalind Barnett and Caryl Rivers. Jung and Winnicott are both addressed.

In sum: there are no proven, scientifically validated, innate differences between the sexes. Differences between people depend on the degree to which they hold power in a given relationship. A quote: "When women use care reasoning, it is because they tend to occupy less powerful positions in society and not because of the innate qualities they possess."

This caring mommy myth of female management puts unrealistic expectations on women managers, and sets us up to fail when we have to be tough and make unpopular decisions. It also perpetuates the LACK of women in executive management because entrenched boards fear that all of that caring will distract from a laser-like focus on the bottom line. It keeps us girls securely in middle management, where our caring and negotiation skills are necessary for our survival.

Posted by Jen at February 3, 2005 11:08 AM