M2M, I am going to go against the masses here and say that I totally agree with that person who talked to you.mom2many said:I am asking about both really, on another forum (all woman) they can not or will not acknowledge that there are differences. That by doing so 'I' am saying that woman are less then men.
Men and womens brains are different, that does not mean that neither sex can be great at whatever we want just that we may learn different and feel things differently....I got called a silly little girl LOL so I wanted to see what some of you men thought.
In a society still heavily favored for men over women, the argument of difference is often used to "justify" that women should have lower pay, lower employment rates, less credit when seen in science, less influence, less floor space when in a group, less presence in the political sphere or in decision making, etc.mom2many said:I am asking about both really, on another forum (all woman) they can not or will not acknowledge that there are differences. That by doing so 'I' am saying that woman are less then men.
Personally, I profoundly dislike this kind of jokes, which to me are both:DFWRusty said:If were talking about mentality........
Then this pic pretty much sums it up!
I absolutely agree, but they still exists, doesn't matter how or why they still do. Nature created us in a way that our survival would be ensured, to discount that is doing humans a disadvantage. Like I said, it does not mean that woman can not be brain surgeons or men amazing fathers. I do believe environment plays a role, however that doesn't change that we do not think alike or that girls and boys do learn differently.parentastic said:M2M, I am going to go against the masses here and say that I totally agree with that person who talked to you.
Women brain might be slightly different, but recent advances in neurobiology has shown beyond any doubt that these differences are a result of how women and men are treated differently in the society.
A newborn brain is exactly the same whether it is a girl or a boy at birth; however the brain is plastic and it shapes itself based on the accumulated experience of a lifetime. Hence, as women are pushed toward certain kind of jobs, as they take care of children, and so on, they develop certain skillsets that are different from the ones most men develop, and this shapes their brain slightly differently.
Even with that, women and men share a lot more similar characteristics than differences.
Most feminist activist WILL acknowledge that there are differences; the key is that these differences are:
a) very minimal, WAY WAY WAY less important than our socialization leads us to think, and
b) with a couple of limited areas such as the ability to bear children, these differences are not inherent to the gender, but a result of how genders are <I>treated</I>,
c) and hence, that any gender can do and be whatever they want in the society and that this "difference" cannot be used as an excuse to prevent anyone from being treated equally.
See the work of Ann-Fauster Stirling, "Sexing the body", for an in-depth analysis of gender differences from a biological perspective.
I saw it as something different then you....not that woman are complicated (I am a woman and will admit me are, as are men) but that woman are capable of a lot more multitasking then men are. Now this is opinion, as just what I see around me, with friends husbands and my own husband.parentastic said:Personally, I profoundly dislike this kind of jokes, which to me are both:
a) sexist
and
b) completely untrue.
Men are just as complicated as women.
And as a man, I find it insulting and lowering to be associated with stereotypes of "simplicity" and "one track mind", as if this was true anyway.
I am sorry, but this is very vague.mom2many said:however that doesn't change that we do not think alike or that girls and boys do learn differently.
Well, sorry, but I am studying this right now in my Master degree, and I can assure you that this is not true.mom2many said:I just did a 15 page report on the brain, how it works, how it process and how it effects the genders (in education).
I totally agree with you that the education system, right now and with a few exception, uses only one single way of teaching and that way matches the "assimilator" pattern from Kolb learning styles - the type where you get "lectures" and you are seen as a "jar" to be filled with "knowledge" (instead of constructing knowledge).mom2many said:To discount that there are differences also puts children at a disadvantage of learning. Now granted, no two children learn the same regardless of gender, but information is processed differently...doesn't matter why or how. It does.
If you allow me to offer a slightly different affirmation:mom2many said:woman are capable of a lot more multitasking then men are. Now this is opinion, as just what I see around me, with friends husbands and my own husband.
parentastic said:I am sorry, but this is very vague.
Every human being thinks differently.
There are virtually hundreds of different models of thinking that attempted to measure how people think differently: The Mayrs-Briggs type indicator (MBTI) measures how you draw your energy, collect information, process it and make decisions; the kolb learning style inventory measures which of the 4 different types of learning mode you use (assimilator, divergor, convergor or accomodator), the Thomas-Killerman conflict instrument measures how people confront each other in conflicts, the Big 5 measures personality through the aneageamme, and so on.
NONE OF THEM found any marked difference between genders.
Yes, people do learn differently.
But it is making a great disservice to learners to try to categorize them by their gender, as if women learn a certain way and men a different way. This is false. Human beings, regardless of their gender, think differently, process information differently, take decision differently, learn differently, etc.
Well, sorry, but I am studying this right now in my Master degree, and I can assure you that this is not true.
What is being studied however, to my knowledge, is how boys will often need to spend more energy and have a harder time to stay put and concentrate in the traditional "lecture" type of teaching...
But that's a different topic.
I totally agree with you that the education system, right now and with a few exception, uses only one single way of teaching and that way matches the "assimilator" pattern from Kolb learning styles - the type where you get "lectures" and you are seen as a "jar" to be filled with "knowledge" (instead of constructing knowledge).
But it's not directly related to the gender - although it is possible to find a non-causal correlation because - again - of how gender is treated in the society.
But I think the real disservice is when we try to stick genders into a mold, it's no better to have 2-models-fits-all than to have 1-model-fit-all, IMO.
Right now I am laughing at myself...I completely forgot I wrote that LOL...great multitasker I am LOLparentastic said:If you allow me to offer a slightly different affirmation:
<I>Women <U>display</U> a lot more multitasking than men in current society</I>
This speaks to the fact that they seem to show this ability more often when observed; even then, we would have to think <I>in which context </I>we are looking at this. But it does not speak to the <I>ability</I> of men to do the same.
The truth is, women are much more likely to have spent 15-20 years caring for 2-3 children while still balancing the delicate act of working part or full time and taking care of most of the chores in the house.
(That's when they aren't caring for 8 children like you!)
So they are more likely to DEVELOP this ability.
Put a man in charge of 8 children and he is going to RUSH like crazy just like you most likely did when you were young... and then he will learn the skill just like you did, too...
I agree. Since when is difference bad?MomoJA said:This question always sorts of reminds me of when people indignantly insist "everybody is the same" as though to be different is somehow bad.
Yep - that would be really interesting. After all - if there was no difference, why go through all the trouble of changing your gender?MomoJA said:I think this would be an interesting question to put to cross gender individuals. I think they would say that yes there is a difference and they know that difference well.
Really? Perhaps I am luckier to live in the third world than I thought. I didn't realize that these issues were still so big in the so-called developed world, when here, in our backwards third-world country, equality is both enforced by law and accepted by society, at least in the circles where I move. (Although I know that in rural communities where tribalism still rules, things are different. But that is a different situation altogether) Companies can get taken to court for paying women less than men, and I can't recall the last time I heard anyone worth mentioning (I'm excluding a few criminally idiotic politicians here) give a woman less credit than a man. Some of the most powerful figures in politics and industry in our country are women. If it was up to me, we'd have a female president, not because she's female, but because I believe her to be the best candidate.parentastic said:In a society still heavily favored for men over women, the argument of difference is often used to "justify" that women should have lower pay, lower employment rates, less credit when seen in science, less influence, less floor space when in a group, less presence in the political sphere or in decision making, etc.