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Feb
7
Nicholas Kristof is feeling empowered, having had a hand in the creation of a new focus of a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee, global women’s issues. And I like what he’s doing with that feeling: tonight, he tells us in his blog that tomorrow, the New York Times will feature this column by him, “Mistresses of the Universe,” in which he discusses the following:
Banks around the world desperately want bailouts of billions of dollars, but they also have another need they’re unaware of: women, women and women.
I particularly love this elucidation he offers for skeptics:
One of the shortcomings of any system of men sitting in front of screens making financial bets was reported last year in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, in case you missed your copy. That study found that men are particularly likely to make high-risk bets when under financial pressure and surrounded by other males of similar status.
As for women, their risk-taking was unaffected by this kind of peer pressure.
The study’s authors point to an evolutionary hangover. Across cultures, women prefer high-status men, while a woman’s reproductive prospects depend much less on her social status. Thus, when men of similar status gather, they jockey for an edge and jostle for the alpha role — and try to get ahead with high-stakes gambles.
On the plus side, boasting about these financial bets might make a great pickup line. On the downside, the bank goes bust.
Please read his entire column though. I left a comment at the blog already.
I’ve written about this topic, including some of the items to which he turns (Davos, Barnard president Debora Spar, the need for critical mass of women and not just one or two) recently, and often. I’m glad he’s giving it attention, but, as I wrote in my comment to him on his blog:
I’m well aware that women could not have gotten the vote without men approving of it, but there is still something stinging about the fact that it’s a man’s voice, surrounded by that of so many women all saying the same thing, that ends up making the difference.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:13 pm February 7th, 2009 in activism, Blogging, Business, Culture, Gender, leadership, Media, Sexism, Women
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4 Responses to “Kristof echoes, tackles lack of women in banks, Wall Street, Davos”
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Your point needs repeating:
“…there is still something stinging about the fact that it’s a man’s voice, surrounded by that of so many women all saying the same thing, that ends up making the difference.” Yes, Jill, this is annoying in the writing world and it is annoying in personal life. That bass echo of what we’ve already been saying is too often taken for the definitive or even original voice.
However, I don’t think men hoarding power among themselves is an evolutionary leftover: biology is not destiny. I think it’s bad behavior that can be changed when there is the will.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Sue.
I agree re: where there’s a will, the behavior can change/be changed. I think Kristof has been a part of that will and change, and I’m appreciative for his and I know a few in the Ohio political blogs as well. Guess I’m only re-stating the obvious for anyone who is in any kind of minority – you do have to get the attention of someone in the majority for any systemic change to be recognizes as necessary and implemented.
But it’s still a real drag.
Thank goodness for the woman who heads CalPERS, who wants stricter investment disclosures and tighter standards, and who has the clout to actually change things. See article is today’s business section of the LA Times.
Maggie – thank you for that heads up – here’s the link:
CalPERS to seek improved corporate governance