Essay: Why do men and women have different attitudes

Sample Essay

The new book argues that much of what we attribute to gender discrimination can also be viewed as asymmetries of communicative style. One reason why the glass ceiling exists is that promotion within firms is based on certain expectations of how people will talk — decisively, in a take-charge manner — that are gender-biased. Women are more interested in getting the job done than they are in boasting about their accomplishments. Women not only fail to brag, they also tend not to demean others. As Tannen says of herself, “I am always careful not to make anyone look bad.” No wonder women are stopped before they reach the top.  (Tannen, 1991)

Some women do reach the top, but this does not put an end to the problems that flow from the incompatibility between women’s way of talking and corporate culture. A boss exercises authority, “but the very notion of authority is associated with maleness.” Women respond to the authority that they possess by downplaying it. If, on the other hand, they relish in their power, they are accused of being a Dragon Lady, of denying their femininity. The result is a classic Batesonian double bind.

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