The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap
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The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap Paperback – Bargain Price, August 18, 2009
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Why, according to 2003 figures, do women constitute 49% of law school graduates but only 27% of practicing lawyers? Defying taboos, Pinker, a psychologist and columnist for the Globe & Mail, presents a compelling case for a biological explanation of why men and women make different career choices. Drawing on comprehensive scientific and social evidence and case studies, she proposes that hormones are a determining factor. The hormones predominant in men lead to action, focus and, often, to competitive and rigidly hierarchical professions such as law. Women's hormones lead them to focus on empathy and social interaction, and careers as teachers or social workers. Thus, despite their early advantages—girls have better language skills and discipline, while boys are more prone to dyslexia, autism and Asperger syndrome and other difficulties—women tend not to seek out the highest status or the most lucrative careers: They're reluctant to take jobs whose demands won't allow them the choice to focus on other aspects of their lives. Pinker says she isn't calling for a return to the 1950s housewife model. She emphasizes individual differences among men and women, but hopes that wider recognition of gender differences can lead to greater workplace flexibility and room for women's professional advancement on their own terms. She may draw a great deal of fire for this book, but her strong evidence could also open a better-informed discussion of the issues. B&w illus. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Fascinating, insightful and deeply captivating. Every thinking man and woman should read this book."
-- Louann Brizendine, M.D., author of The Female Brain
"Pinker crafts a biologically based and sure-to-be-controversial examination of sex differences between "fragile men" and gifted women who opt out of successful careers. A valuable demonstration of how discounting biology during the last 40 years has done a disservice, especially to men."
-- Kirkus
"In this marvelous book, Susan Pinker presents a fascinating analysis of "the gender gap," introducing a continuous flow of exciting ideas and new insights into old problems and controversies. It's a pleasure to read a book that is so informative and entertaining about a complex topic that is rarely examined, as it is here, from all points of view."
-- Ron Melzack, E.P. Taylor Professor Emeritus, in the Department of Psychology, McGill University
"All these many years of running a business, I thought I was an anomaly. Susan Pinker's work has grounded my intuitions in reality: a woman's success is going to knock the spiritual stuffing right out of her if she tries to come at it from traditional angles. Instead she must invent a workplace that not only provides food for the table but gives social and emotional meaning to her life. Susan Pinker helps you understand that it's not you that's crazy, it's the system."
-- Margot Franssen, social activist and co-founder of The Body Shop Canada
"The Sexual Paradox highlights some central puzzles about exceptional men and women. Why did Einstein never complete his PhD? Or Cavendish, Farraday, Darwin, and Bill Gates never complete their degrees or even drop out of university? And why do high-flying business women not behave like their male counterparts? Susan Pinker's wide-ranging look at the nature of the sexes is a highly readable and welcome contribution to this perennial debate."
-- Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Cambridge University, author of The Essential Difference
"Susan Pinker's The Sexual Paradox is meticulously researched, brilliantly argued and thoroughly persuasive. It moves the debate over sex differences to a new level of sophistication."
-- Christina Hoff Sommers, author of Who Stole Feminism? and The War Against Boys
"Presented with flair, sensitivity, and determination, Pinker's penetrating conclusions shed important new light on how gender differences affect every strata of contemporary existence."
-- Booklist
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By
Amazon Customer
on July 16, 2008
Format: Hardcover
4 Comments
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I came across this book one rainy afternoon at my local bookstore, and ended up reading it for the next two hours. Essentially an overview of why men and women seek very different career paths, "The Sexual Paradox" sheds light on some recent trends that others are quite honestly afraid to discuss.
We all know that women often abandon corporate careers in greater numbers than men. In addition, it's not outlandish to say that women do this in order to spend more time with their spouses and/or children, and are willing to let go of the handsome salaries they've worked so very hard to attain.
While that might sound sexist to some, it's a reality across the United States, if not the world in general. If anything, one might think that women have an advantage in certain careers like law -- because they certainly have higher scores in areas such as reading comprehension and writing. Despite this, our society makes demands upon women that many are simply unwilling to meet.
In essence, we need to become more accommodating to the diversity of the workforce, primarily in gender. Issues such as flex-time, maternity leave and perhaps even telecommuting could be used to make such jobs and workplaces more attractive to women, and also lessen the burden of men. The more diverse our companies, the better. Men and women both have EQUAL amounts to offer our society.
As a 22-year-old man majoring in public relations (a decidedly "female" field) I was intrigued by Pinker's overview in education. Clearly, to work in my field one needs highly developed reading and writing skills -- there's just no way around it. As the result of teaching methods that are simply outdated and ineffective, many boys do not develop these skills as well as their female peers...Read more ›
We all know that women often abandon corporate careers in greater numbers than men. In addition, it's not outlandish to say that women do this in order to spend more time with their spouses and/or children, and are willing to let go of the handsome salaries they've worked so very hard to attain.
While that might sound sexist to some, it's a reality across the United States, if not the world in general. If anything, one might think that women have an advantage in certain careers like law -- because they certainly have higher scores in areas such as reading comprehension and writing. Despite this, our society makes demands upon women that many are simply unwilling to meet.
In essence, we need to become more accommodating to the diversity of the workforce, primarily in gender. Issues such as flex-time, maternity leave and perhaps even telecommuting could be used to make such jobs and workplaces more attractive to women, and also lessen the burden of men. The more diverse our companies, the better. Men and women both have EQUAL amounts to offer our society.
As a 22-year-old man majoring in public relations (a decidedly "female" field) I was intrigued by Pinker's overview in education. Clearly, to work in my field one needs highly developed reading and writing skills -- there's just no way around it. As the result of teaching methods that are simply outdated and ineffective, many boys do not develop these skills as well as their female peers...Read more ›
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By
Anonymous Reader
on March 13, 2010
Format: Paperback
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Susan Pinker has done an excellent job of marshaling the academic and medical evidence related to educational and career performance by women and men. The thesis of "The Sexual Paradox" is simple: biology profoundly influences destiny, in the workplace as well as elsewhere, and workforce policy should be cognizant of these differences.
The data collected by Pinker suggests that women (as a group) tend to be steadier performers in life and in the workplace, to hew slightly more to population medians, and to be more profoundly influenced by the needs of family and community. Men (as a group) are slightly more likely to deviate from the averages at work or in life, either for good (as star performers) or for ill (evidencing, for example, more violent or criminal behaviors), and are likely to be more influenced than are women by competitive outcomes, such as salary or status. The result, according to Pinker, is that women (as a group) are, on balance, less likely than male peers to reach the top of the career pyramid, and are more likely to value jobs that stress interpersonal connections, doing good in society, and permitting the worker to achieve a balance between home and professional responsibilities. Males, on the other hand, are more likely to be highly competitive and motivated by the prospect of maximizing earnings and status, thus propelling the most gifted up the career ladder.
Pinker bolsters her thesis with cases from her career as a developmental psychologist and interviews with male and female subjects.Read more ›
The data collected by Pinker suggests that women (as a group) tend to be steadier performers in life and in the workplace, to hew slightly more to population medians, and to be more profoundly influenced by the needs of family and community. Men (as a group) are slightly more likely to deviate from the averages at work or in life, either for good (as star performers) or for ill (evidencing, for example, more violent or criminal behaviors), and are likely to be more influenced than are women by competitive outcomes, such as salary or status. The result, according to Pinker, is that women (as a group) are, on balance, less likely than male peers to reach the top of the career pyramid, and are more likely to value jobs that stress interpersonal connections, doing good in society, and permitting the worker to achieve a balance between home and professional responsibilities. Males, on the other hand, are more likely to be highly competitive and motivated by the prospect of maximizing earnings and status, thus propelling the most gifted up the career ladder.
Pinker bolsters her thesis with cases from her career as a developmental psychologist and interviews with male and female subjects.Read more ›
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18 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By
hessa
on July 15, 2008
Format: Hardcover
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This thoroughly researched, fascinating book looks at many of the assumptions North Americans hold about gender differences and reveals some startling facts. Pinker systematically sets out to prove that women are quite different than men biologically and are actually FAVORED (not oppressed) by many cultural institutions, most notably schools and universities. As an educator and a young professional woman, I found Pinker's thesis closely matches my own experiences.
By challenging the idea that women must measure themselves the same way they measure men, this book helps readers embrace a new and more relevant brand of feminism. The style is fairly academic, but each chapter contains a number of interesting and cutting-edge studies that should help you get through the slower bits.
By challenging the idea that women must measure themselves the same way they measure men, this book helps readers embrace a new and more relevant brand of feminism. The style is fairly academic, but each chapter contains a number of interesting and cutting-edge studies that should help you get through the slower bits.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By
Paul Adams
on July 17, 2010
Format: Paperback
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This is an extraordinary book, engagingly written, well argued, and well documented with a mass of research, especially from neuroscience. Pinker argues for an understanding of the gender gap in work, life choices, and pay between men and women that takes account of the real biological differences between the sexes. It is a mistake in her view to expect or aim for a 50-50 representation of the sexes in fields like IT, engineering, science, or corporate law or, for that matter social work and teaching.
She focuses on highly successful women who thrived in school and had every encouragement from teachers, parents, professors, and mentors and yet chose more balanced, socially and personally meaningful lives than the high-paying, high prestige careers on which they first embarked. They asserted their own wishes and needs in the face of strong social pressure and strong incentives to follow a male pattern of career success. Pinker also interviews men at the extreme end of the male brain pattern, that is, those with Asperger's, lacking in social skills, incapable of empathy or intimate friendship, who found niches where their intense focus was an advantage and their social deficits could be accommodated.
This seemed at first a puzzling strategy. Why study only successful women who have choices that most women do not? The point, though, is that when women do have a choice, they do not choose (on average) to devote themselves to their careers at the expense of family, to high pay and competitive jobs at the expense of social purpose and meaning.Read more ›
She focuses on highly successful women who thrived in school and had every encouragement from teachers, parents, professors, and mentors and yet chose more balanced, socially and personally meaningful lives than the high-paying, high prestige careers on which they first embarked. They asserted their own wishes and needs in the face of strong social pressure and strong incentives to follow a male pattern of career success. Pinker also interviews men at the extreme end of the male brain pattern, that is, those with Asperger's, lacking in social skills, incapable of empathy or intimate friendship, who found niches where their intense focus was an advantage and their social deficits could be accommodated.
This seemed at first a puzzling strategy. Why study only successful women who have choices that most women do not? The point, though, is that when women do have a choice, they do not choose (on average) to devote themselves to their careers at the expense of family, to high pay and competitive jobs at the expense of social purpose and meaning.Read more ›
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