Ann Magnuson (ann.magnuson at biokem.lu.se) writes
> I have talked about the issue of proffessionalim with my (male) boss,
> who thinks that women have difficulties both with taking orders, and
> receiving criticisms. My boss expects people to understand that he is
> trying to drive the project forward, not critisize someone just for the
> hell of it.
This may be true; but I think it reflects the
low self-esteem women have. That does not excuse it but
may explain where it comes from. After all, most of us have
received pretty brutal negative reinforcement about being scientists.
That said, as I stated in an earlier post, students
must learn to recognize and accept constructive criticism!
Nothing is more frustrating than dealing with the defensive
chip-on-the-shoulder mentality. But men can be pretty bad at
this too. The US educational system is big on meaningless
"self-esteem-building" and praise; I think students forget that for
praise to be meaningful, it cannot be continuous, and criticism
can be constructive, rather than negative. :-)
> Also, when he asks someone to do an experiment, he doesn't mean
> it as a recommendation that the person is free to follow or not.
> He says men just go ahead and do it, more often than women do. I have no
> idea if this is just his own view, what are your experiences?
My observation is precisely the opposite--men tend to be very independent,
women more uncertain.
> He also thinks women take advice less often than men, and that male
> students try to "listen and learn" much more than women do. I tend to
> agree with this.
I disagree. Maybe this is the difference between Swedish and US women?
> Women also seem to collaborate less smoothly than men, and are often
> negative to the idea even when there's a clear benefit in the
> collaboration.
Again, precisely the opposite! Women in my experience prefer
to collaborate than compete; it's the men who want to go roll
over everyone else.
> One important point, which I have only recently come to understand, is
> how women seldom accept that other women can be more competent or have
> higher ambitions. Everyone in a group of women must be completely equal,
> *in absurdum*.
I'm not sure I would phrase it quite like this. However, women's groups
DO tend to talk everything to death and be more uncomfortable with
any sort of hierarchy or ranking. I don't think that means they are
uncomfortable with ambition, however. Get a group of women together,
and they all start networking and cooperating. Get a
group of men together, and they immediately determine a
hierarchy, like rankings in a wolf pack. Somebody has to be alpha,
and somebody omega. Woof!
:-)
--
-susan
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