Yesterday two things happened to remind me that we continue to be so far from understanding women in the work world, but there are some good signs of people moving the conversation forward.
I responded to a blog by Sallie Krawcheck: “Let’s Just Admit It — Women Are Different Than Men” in essence saying — “your treatise does not concern differences between women and men but rather, differences in expectations of women and men”. Sallie had written about how she lost an hour a day on grooming demands that a man could put to better work. I countered that a man would take just as long to groom, if that was the expectation for success (likely longer as he didn’t have as much practice).
The Men v. Women debate is a no win….and frankly it’s gotten boring. First off, it’s mis-conceived — men and women are much more alike than they are different. And there are more relevant factors that categorize humans than sex, most of the time. Second, it’s a merry-go-round. We can point to statistics that show different performance by sex in sports, for example, but there are men and women at both ends of the scale. What may be most important, on average, is the sports training and encouragement boys receive as children (to pound the point home — not something biologically determined).
This brings me to Miranda Daniloff and her blog, BeyondWorkLifeBalance. http://www.beyondworklifebalance.com/ Miranda and I have spent a lot of time talking about how women and men need to get past the idea that there is an answer, a solution, a definitive time defined fix. Life is complicated and the way women can put it all together given the special demands that society parks at their door on average is to recognize the juggling game that it truly is.
I’m going to be watching Miranda as she helps us see behind that curtain.
drteresanelson 