Boys vs. Girls: Reversal of Fortune?
Earlier this week, I did a post about gender bias experienced by Senator Clinton during the current presidential campaign and still experienced by women in the workplace. Although that may be the case right now, new reports from 60 Minutes and other sources say that it’s boys and young men who’re getting the short end of the stick.
The evidence of this about face is found in all high schools, colleges and universities, and graduate schools. All of a sudden it seems, males are dumb, confused. Females are smart, together. Girls are taking virtually all of the advanced placement courses in high school. They’re winning all the academic prizes. They’re the valedictorians. They’re dominating medical schools, law schools, and business schools. They’re taking over.
Boys have quit trying, except when it comes to athletics. Fewer of them are going to college. When they do, they don’t stick with it, so 60% of the college population today is female. Since you have to graduate from college to go to med school, law school or business school, forget it. Sadly, even when boys and young men are physically present on school campuses, they’re dropping from the life of schools.
In Raising Cain, a book by Michael Thomson, it’s said that after decades of special attention, girls are soaring. Boys have become like, well, girls. Boys now need their own affirmative action programs. Single sex schools may be required soon.
I must confess that this crisis caught me by surprise. I have always thought that girls were smarter than boys. They made better grades. They won most of the academic prizes. They were the valedictorians and the salutatorians. Since I got out of school, I guess I’ve been in some kind of Rip Van Winkle condition.
On May 21. several oil executives were summoned to testify before a Senate committee about why they make millions of dollars a year in compensation, why the oil companies are making billions of dollars per year in profits, and why gas prices continue to soar. Every single one of them was a man. Three per cent of Fortune 500 companies are headed by a female CEO. The well-documented gender pay gap hits women the hardest when they reach their 30′s. An increasing number of women may be graduating from business schools today, but they’ve got a long way to go, baby.
Although law schools have been graduating classes with a 50-50 gender split for a while, only eight per cent of law firms are headed by female managing partners, and the number is dropping, as is the number of female partners. Female doctors make up about 30% of the medical profession now, but the often-discussed doctor shortage is blamed on the female doctor increase, since female doctors don’t work as many hours as male doctors.
I’m not saying these new reports on the reversal of fortune in the battle of the sexes are wrong. I’m not saying they’re right, either. I’m just having a hard time seeing a shift in the balance of power to the degree stated in the new reports on boys vs. girls. I’ll have an easier time believing it when some of the statistics mentioned above change, when the female gender is possessed by The Man Gene, and when a woman is the quarterback of the New York Giants.
And if my cynicism is unfounded and the new reports are right, then it’s about time. You go, girls!
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Women are stubborn survivors, passionate and eclectic beyond what most men can comprehend; so they summarize this quality by calling us “emotional”. They look at us and think of sex (both definitions), not leadership. It’s a pure and simple scientific fact that will never change and it sickens me.
Shawna, always appreciate your comments. The one above is a bit pessimistic, however, although perhaps correct.
A point I’v tried to make several times on this blog is that, though men and women are different, the differences shouldn’t qualify or disqualify a person from a position, particularly a leadership position.
We’re all emotional. I’m hesitant to say that men express emotions one way and women another, but the stereotype seems to be that men yell and women cry. When that gets turned around (men crying and women yelling), the stereotype is that a man is weak and a woman is a (rhymes with witch).
To some extent, both genders are caught in a Catch 22 situation that doesn’t help employers or employees. I do see this changing a bit in the younger generations (or maybe I just hope I see it changing). Change is slow, but I guess I don’t go so far as to say that the gender gap involving leadership positions will never change. I may not see it change as much as would be helpful to everyone, but I think it’ll occur one of these days.
Have a good weekend.
Thank you John. I find it interesting that you call my remarks a bit “pessimistic” rather than “skeptical”. It’s not a gloom and doom cynical statement, it’s a fact until proven different. I strategically said that in hopes that I WILL be proven wrong. That one day soon women will be treated as equals, earn the same respect, recognition and reward as the male leaders of the corporate world. We can dream that my quote will be known world wide as the most inaccurate quote of our time. That would be awesome.
Got it, Shawna. I need to read more carefully. I should have known I was wrong to describe what you said as pessimistic, because your comments aren’t ever that way. Thanks for making me re-read it and understand it. You see, girls are smarter than boys.