Hanna Rosin on TED

I'll start out by saying I'm nowhere near a feminist. I have, however, taken note of what, IMO, appears to be a humongous shift in what it is that creates a remarkable workplace.

Ms. Rosin, one of the founders of DoubleX, is featured on TED with a talk titled "New Data on the Rise of Women," which is based on an article she did for The Atlantic titled "The End of Men". In her TED talk, Ms. Rosin makes some pretty substantial claims about men becoming increasingly powerless and women taking over the intellectual [and therefore business] world, citing research findings like a) young, unmarried women with no children now make more money (and are more likely to independently purchase a home) than are men of the same age, and b) for every two men who earn a college a degree, three women earn one, and finally, c) more women are earning PhDs than are men.

While these are all fascinating statistics, I don't find myself necessarily rooting for the dominance of the female gender. The most intriguing suggestion that Rosin makes, or I suppose hints upon and then completely abandons, is that feminine traits such as the ability to actively listen, empathize, and motivate teams and foster an environment in which people want to work together rather than independently [not necessarily women, since men as a gender absolutely employ certain feminine traits at varying levels] have replaced the "General Patton" mentality of masculine, dictatorial, order-barking leadership, or has at least begun the process of doing so.

I think it's important to note that referring to this shift as 'masculine' to 'feminine' is merely for lack of better terms; that the traits of what was versus what appears to be currently most effective seem to display masculine and feminine characteristics, respectively, however, I don't necessarily agree with the thought that you can accurately insert genders here. If a man can perform this adapted role there is no reason he can't be equally successful as a woman who performs the same role.

While it's clear that the shift from an industrial society has, in some ways, caused the aforementioned trend, I think there is another contributor that is entirely unrelated to gender, and that is time spent at work or time spent generally working. The militaristic, masculine thing worked for a long time because an employee could put up with being treated as such from 9a-5p, and then go home to his family where he was the top-earner, cared for his family, and other male-identifying traits. With the 9a-5p diminishing and becoming more like an 8a-9p, and with many folks having somewhat of a 24-hour a day role, there isn't enough separation between work and personal life to justify being treated in a condescending, militaristic way. Further, I think it's fair that as our careers continue to ask more and more of each of us, it should be reciprocated with more equal and respectful treatment.

Overall, I think Rosin makes some pretty great points and is on an interesting track. Again, I don't necessarily agree with everything, but I can still respect it.

bk