Please Ladies, Do Not Try to Make Any Important Decisions

Stereotypes usually have some kernel of truth to them. Depending on the stereotype, that kernel may be bigger or smaller. Merriam Webster defines stereotype as, “a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.” Obviously, stereotypes are not always true. If they were they’d be called “facts” or “truths” instead of “stereotypes.”

Hence the cringe-inducing Maureen Dowd article I read in The New York Times this morning while eating breakfast. (Dowd’s columns are not available for free online, thus I am not linking to it.) In “How Carly Lost Her Gender Groove (And Will She Get It Back)?”, Dowd documents the trials and tribulations of Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. The opening sentence hurts: “Carly Fiorina prided herself on being adept at succeeding in a man’s world without whining about sexism.” Dowd notes that in her new memoir, Fiorina swallowed her pride and went with executives to a business meeting at a strip club, where oddly enough, she felt uncomfortable and excluded. (I am not saying that women can’t enjoy strip clubs; it just is utterly inappropriate place for business meetings in my mind.) Somehow, I doubt that complaining about this meeting would constitute “whining about sexism,” but I clearly am not Ms. Fiorina.

At any rate, Dowd continues to document Fiorina’s current beefs against the media and the board of Hewlett-Packard, which she now implies were sexist. Blah blah blah. Not that she doesn’t have a point, but what interested me even more was the next part of Dowd’s article:

With several of the few high-profile women at the top tanking, it’s interesting to note that Columbia Business School has introduced a new program that teaches the importance of a more empathetic and sensitive leadership style in globalized business… Students learn to read facial expressions, body language and posture, and get coaching on their brains “mirror neurons” – how what they’re thinking and feeling can affect others.

“This less autocratic leadership style draws on capabilities in which women are as good as men,” says Michael Morris, a professor of psychology and management who is running the business school’s new program.

Daniel Goleman, whose new book “Social Intelligence” is being taught in the program, points out that “while women are, in general, better at reading emotions, men tend to be better at managing them during a crisis. Women tend to be more sophisticated in reading social interactions but also tend to ruminate more when things go wrong.”

Hmmm.. so how is that going to change anything? Is it going to stop the media from calling women in power “bitches” when they make hard decisions, while praising men for doing the same thing, as Fiorina complains? No. Is it going to help women cope with sexism and discrimination in the workplace, or foster a workplace that does not discriminate in the first place? No. Does it reinforce the idea that women are overly emotional and can’t make rational decisions? Yes. Yes, it does. Can someone please explain to me why this is being hailed as developing leadership?

And don’t you love how the qualifiers “tend to” and “in general” are always used to turn gender stereotypes into facts about women and men? So skillfully done!) Worse, women students are buying into this bullshit (or at least the one student quoted in the article is). I need to take a deep breath before I quote this, but I’ll be brave and here goes:

Neenu Sharma, an MBA student in the new Columbia program, says the more of the story is that leadership works best with both sexes involved. “You need the woman there to know what’s actually going on, but you need the man there to deal with the critical emotions at the time.”

Oh, that hurt me to write. Seriously, I just want to scratch my own eyeballs out over things like this. Sure, it is great to have both sexes involved in running things. But dear goddess, does this not reek of women needing to be the behind the scenes manipulator and men staying out front, getting all the credit?

It seems that the world wants to continue to promote the idea that behind every great man is an even greater woman. Why that greater woman has to always stand behind the man is based on nothing more than hideous gender stereotypes. You’ve come a long way baby and all that stuff. Pardon me while I move to a cave and live in solitude from these things for the rest of my life.

Suzanne blogs in a different type of hysterical (as in ha ha) manner at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants