The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap (Hardcover)

by Susan Pinker (Author)
Key Phrases: sexual paradox, dyslexic women, imposter feelings, United States, United Kingdom, Ivy League (more...)

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.)
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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

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1 edition (March 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743284704
• ISBN-13: 978-0743284707
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #580,638 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pinker Says What Others Will Not, July 16, 2008

By	Jason G. - See all my reviews

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...

And I for one would like to see something change.

In sum, Pinker does society a great service by breaking taboo and suggesting that perhaps men and women are biologically different, but that doesn't mean that either gender is any better (or worse) than the other. Perhaps in time we can begin to address these issues with honesty, and work to create a world where both sets of individuals are given equal chance to succeed -- preferably in an environment that doesn't favor one ideology over the other.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will redefine your concept of feminism, July 15, 2008

By	hessa (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

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.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars So much speculation, August 12, 2008

By	Arturo DiGenero - See all my reviews

I'm very sympathetic to the idea that men's and women's brains are biologically different, but Pinker relies far too much on purely anecdotal and journalistic evidence to have persuaded me that I'm right. The more academic evidence she adduces is too often similarly weak in its reliance on self-reporting and surveys -- surely an argument for biological not cultural difference depends, ultimately, on biological evidence, and there's just not enough here. But the more fundamental flaw with the book is that Pinker just assumes that there's a difference between men's and women's experiences, without establishing that there even is a difference. In a chapter about successful women leaving high-paying jobs because they don't want work to consume their lives, for example, she admits that when women work as much as men they become ... just as unhappy as men!