^ I'm with this. I think there are jobs and careers suited to certain mindsets, physical builds, mental makeups. In general, some of these jobs are better done by women, and others better done by men, and I'm not talking about housecleaning and caring for one and everything else for the other, before anyone calls me up on that. Women (in general) have a greater sense of empathy, and social ability: I don't know about you, but I'm at best OK at birthdays, ages and names, but my sister can remember the names of all 27 of our cousins, the ages of most of them and the birthdays of most of those, despite the fact that we only see 11 of them on anything approaching a regular basis. Those sort of abilities are well suited to HR type situations, or charity groups, as just two of many examples that could be given.
Now, there are however always exceptions: women who are good at "male" ways of life, and vice versa, which is why I think that jobs shouldn't be gender specific, but that people going into them should be aware that in areas that are very much dominated by one gender, they will be an exception to the rule, because they are exceptional people. Trying to force people that don't fit the bill properly into a job just to equal out the gender balance is just plain silly. There are areas that will be equal, because they aren't gender or mentality specific, but especially things like serving in the army, most positions in the army will be male orientated, because protecting the tribe has always been one of the primary jobs of the male population.
I realise i'm rambling a little here, but am I making sense?
In essence, I don't believe that balance should be forced for the benefit of a gender balance, as then people who are not right for the job will end up doing it in the place of someone better suited, but neither should jobs be gender orientated: The criteria for any job should be based on mental and physical makeups, depending on what is needed, not gender, regardless of how often the two coincide.
I realise I also haven't really approached my views on Feminism at all in this post really, remind me to do that at some stage :P
__________________
"I found it eventually, at the bottom of a locker in a disused laboratory, with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard". Ever thought of going into Advertising?"
- Arthur Dent
|