|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Kepler
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:58 pm Post subject: Are Women Under More Pressure to Conform? |
 |
|
An observation by a psychology professor:
| Quote: |
My impression is that these examples illustrate a large male/female difference: Women will commonly criticize another woman for lack of conformity (unless somehow “earned”); men are much less likely to criticize another man this way. When women do it, it is called being catty. There is no equivalent term when men do it — presumably because no one invents a term for something that doesn’t happen.
I have never seen this mentioned in the literature on male/female differences (nor in Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In). It isn’t easy to explain. Could it be learned? Well, in my experience girls are under more pressure to “act a certain way” than boys (Japan is an example), but I can’t explain that, either, nor can I see why that would translate to women putting pressure on other women to conform.
One reason this tendency is hard to explain is its effect on leadership. Putting pressure on other women to conform makes it harder for women to become leaders — leadership is the opposite of conformity. Making it harder for women to be leaders makes it easier for men to be leaders. It is hard to see how this particular effect (there are many others) benefits women. |
http://blog.sethroberts.net/2013/09/06/a-little-noticed-malefemale-difference/
How true is this in Korea? It seems there are a lot of female teachers on waygook who complain that they have problems fitting in as the lone foreigner at their public schools. On the other hand, a lot of male lifers who are married to Korean women seem to actually take pride in not fitting in and in making little or no effort to learn Korean. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 6:25 pm Post subject: Re: Are Women Under More Pressure to Conform? |
|
|
| Kepler wrote: |
How true is this in Korea? It seems there are a lot of female teachers on waygook who complain that they have problems fitting in as the lone foreigner at their public schools. On the other hand, a lot of male lifers who are married to Korean women seem to actually take pride in not fitting in and in making little or no effort to learn Korean. |
I don't know what's more offensive, the fact that you are suggesting that men who are married to Koreans can't or don't want to fit in or the fact that you compare the experiences of single young women with married older men. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 6:36 pm Post subject: Re: Are Women Under More Pressure to Conform? |
|
|
| Quote: |
My impression is that these examples illustrate a large male/female difference: Women will commonly criticize another woman for lack of conformity (unless somehow “earned”); men are much less likely to criticize another man this way. When women do it, it is called being catty. There is no equivalent term when men do it — presumably because no one invents a term for something that doesn’t happen.
I have never seen this mentioned in the literature on male/female differences (nor in Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In). It isn’t easy to explain. |
Lots of things aren't easy explain when you immediately assume they can't possibly be natural, inborn features.
| Quote: |
| One reason this tendency is hard to explain is its effect on leadership. Putting pressure on other women to conform makes it harder for women to become leaders — leadership is the opposite of conformity. Making it harder for women to be leaders makes it easier for men to be leaders. It is hard to see how this particular effect (there are many others) benefits women. |
And here's where our professor really goes off the tracks. The phenomenon he is considering here does not obstruct the development of female leadership, it is the female mode of leadership. Men keep men in line with the occasional application of authority; women keep women in line through the steady application of "cattiness." Women developing male leadership styles does nothing but alienate them from both other women and men, so how on Earth would it benefit them? Stop assuming men and women are identical absent environment pressures and everything that was so hard to understand suddenly becomes very easy to understand.
As far as Korea goes, your observation is probably reasonably sound. Women seem to struggle here much moreso than men, and the rare woman who seems to thrive tends to have a more masculine personality. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
