Gender Equity and Differences - Assignment Example

Introduction The issues about gender equity and differences have surfaced since the society of human developed the sense of liberalism and open mindedness. Before, women belong to the minority group and are given the least chance for leadership and other tasks. It is always the men who dominate to ruling and leading people. Even before, according to Robin Turner (1997), the philosophies had somewhat differentiate women from men. Plato looks at women as more animal than human because they reason less as compared to men. Aristotle looks at man as "rational animal". But if you look at these two sexes, it is pretty obvious that they have differences in their physical appearances. Not just the physical differences of these two, even at their physiological responses and to other fields. The society is just having misconception about the differences of the two sexes that is why conflicts arise. We can look closely to how we can link these two sexes. But to do that it is better if we recognize first what are their differences for us to be able to connect them and resolve the reasons why conflicts arise. In other words, let us look at the both sides on them and settle at the middle and understand their reactions or responses. Men When it comes to physical appearance men has more defined muscle structure than women. They are the one who are much capable of lifting heavy things as compared to women because their physical capacity is fit for such work. The brain structure of men is different from women. They have thinner corpus callosum. This is the one that connects the two halves of the brain. The left side of the brain is the one responsible for analytical thinking. And this is when the boys can level up to the scores of women because men are good with numbers (Turner, 1997). When it comes to sexual urges, men are more visual than women. Visual things can usually trigger their urges compared to women. When it comes to listening, men usually have different kind of behavior. In the research of Deborah Tannen (1990), she found out that men will usually eye on something else while listening to somebody. When you talk to them they don't look at you straight but will be eyeing other things in the surroundings. She also found at his research that even at the development of men will stand as the evidence of how different they are to women. They usually establish bonding with other boys with physical activities; they don't make talking as a medium for closeness to other boys. When it terms to command making, men are more direct to what they want and the orders that they give according to Theiderman. She even elaborated that even in asking question there is this line that separates men from women. Men are not into details and will ask fewer questions. Men ask questions because they want to know something. Their purpose of asking is plainly to gather information. Women Physically, women have less muscle definition. Instead they are built for the purpose of conception and therefore bear the gift of carrying their young. As to brain structure, women are have a thicker corpus collusom and are therefore capable of multi tasking as compared to men. In terms of sexual urges, women are more into touch than visuals. They are easily aroused when touched and not just by visuals. In terms of listening, women look at their partners when listening. They set their eyes to there friends when listening because it is their way of showing that their attention is set to conversation. As to making commands, women are softer in giving orders. They usually use tag lines and will usually use phrases that ask for confirmation but in away suggesting her own idea or asking for others to confirm with her, (Thiederman). Girls establish a different medium of bonding with other girls. They indulge their time to talking as establishing closer relationship with other girls, (Tannnen, 1990). Girls usually exchange secrets and talk about a constant topic as compared to boys. For them, if they spend time for talking with other girls it is as well spending time to bond with them. Women asks questions differently also as to men. They ask question not just to know what they don't know but they ask question even if they know already because they want to show interest in what other person has said to cultivate the relationship. As what is said before, they just want to talk because they think they develop closeness in such way. Gender Conservation As presented above, conflicts between the two will surely arise if they meet together without looking into their differences and not establishing the essence of understanding the both sides. According to Tannen in The Washington Post (1990), it is mostly about communication problem that causes the drifting of relationships among different sexes. Let's take for example the problem about divorce; communication is always the grounds of the said process. But if you look at it closely, both parties has only misunderstood there differences. Let's take the example from Tannen's article, in her experience in a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room, a women's group had invited the men to join them. There is this one man who always talks and shares a lot of ideas during throughout the evening while her wife is just sitting quite in one corner. As she commented that it is always the wife that complains because their husbands don't talk to them. But then the man explained that in their house, it is usually his wife who does the talking. Looking back at the differences that we presented about a man and a woman, the pitfall of the conflict is because they didn't understand their differences. When the wife talks to her husband and the husband's eyes are set to something else, she thinks her husbands do not listens to her. But to the part of the husband he was actually listening. With this example, it may cause the reason for conflict and soon will result to divorce. To add to the example above, Robin Turner said that, the opposite things about man and a woman is damaging. When the woman rejects logic and depends on emotion or feelings, they will be left to the weak category. They will be thinking that men are impersonal and cold while the men will think on the other hand woman as illogical and unreasonable. Another example to set is by Tannen again in her article "Can't We Talk", there is a couple in a car and the wife suggested for a coffee and asks her husband if he wanted to. The husband said no and the wife took that answer as a bad response because she thought that her husband did not consider her preference. On the other hand the husband was just expressing his real preference as well. In this situation the conflict can arise. These two individuals did not meet half way and forgot to give chances to each other to really look at the problem of communication. Even in the online communities there are still gender issues. In the world of internet, different raises and different nationality are interacting. In this sense we are not relying only on there raises and nationality for differences we should also look at their society's form and culture form. Different country or even different tribes establish their society and culture differently. But then the problem about gender is still prominent. According to Lisa J. King, she has established two theories about online communications. In her first theory, online communication is more equal since it softens social barriers. Acording to Shapiro (1999) in King's article, "in online communication, women are able to participate and complete thoughts, in effect "softening social barriers". The second theory says that in online community it is still the man who dominates because online community is only a form of reflection to what the real world is. Looking at these two theories, they are extremes. The first theory is the irony of the second theory. But then despite the theories said, they are still ways to settle things for the gender issues to be solved. Lets not look at these two theories as a form of choices, rather let's use this as a form of references as to why we should consider many things for the reconciliation of the issues about gender. For a gender conservation to be possible let us try to understand both genders. Through this paper, we can help other people understand the behavior of male and female. They can take a look on the conflicts they had before and try to set it as an example. As evidences are given above, both genders can now distinguish why their partners (opposite sex) are acting such. Conclusion With the ideas presented above, it is clear that when we come to understand the differences of the sexes this will lead us to avoiding conflict. We can be able to establish the so called "give and take relationship". We can improve our way of communication and will be able to develop the attitude of being unselfish. In these ways, we can lessen the cases of broken family, divorce, and other societal conflicts. Works Cited: King, Lisa. Gender Issues in Online Communities. Lisa@kinghome.net. Shapiro (1999) in King's Gender Issues in Online Communities. Lisa@kinghome.net Tannen, W. (1990). Sex Lies and Conservation: Why is it Hard for Men and Women to Talk to each Other The Washington Post. Tannen, W. "Can't We talk": You Just Don't Understand. Thiederman, S. He Said, She Said: Differences to Be Admired. Turner, R. (1997). Male Logic and Women's Institution. Read More