I believe very firmly that women should be paid and rewarded in exactly the same way as men for equal jobs. However, I do not believe that all men and all women are similarly equipped (physically or mentally) to be able to perform tasks with the same degree of proficiency. To say that women and men should have equal representation in all careers seems ridiculous to me. It goes against centuries of practical experience, modern scientific research, and common sense.

Gender Discrimination in Academia
A National Academies report issued on Sept. 18, 2006 states that women are discriminated against in academia. Male science and engineering PhD’s hold four times more faculty positions than female science and engineering PhD’s. That is, only one in four faculty positions are held by women. The report also notes that women tend to be promoted more slowly and receive fewer honors. A clear case of discrimination, apparently.

Gender Differences in Science and Technology
The report also claims that, “Studies have not found any significant biological differences between men and women in performing science and mathematics that can account for the lower representation of women in academic faculty and leadership positions in [science and technology] fields”. Hmmm. While I agree that the biological differences between men and women probably don’t affect their science and math performance, what about their aptitudes, motivations, and simple preference? In short; what about their empathizing and systemizing tendencies?

Natural Selection in Career Choice
It seems reasonable to suppose that men and women with “systemizing” tendencies have more desire to enter, and innate skills to succeed in, the fields of science and technology. Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen’s studies indicate that 53% of men have systemizing brains compared to 17% of women. This means that we could expect one out of every four systemizing (vis-à-vis science and technology) jobs to be filled by a woman. It looks as if academia has got it right–but there’s no unfair gender discrimination. That women are promoted more slowly and receive fewer honors is no surprise. More women than men choose to take time out for family and children over careers. Like it or not, this IS going to affect career prospects for women.

Unconscious Prejudice in the Workplace
The truth is that we all have unconscious biases for or against whole groups of people (men, women, Afro-Americans, Jews, gays) that manifest themselves in the way we treat individuals. You can measure your own biases using the Implicit Association Test discussed in last week’s column. We should all be wary of prejudice (in the sence of preconceived judgment) against individuals, but this does not mean that we should fill job vacancies with equal quotas of men and women regardless of their underlying talents. Call me prejudiced, but I want the most qualified (education and aptitude) team of scientists and engineers to design and build, for example, my child’s car seat so that it is as safe as it possibly could be. I don’t care if the team comprises men or women, but I definitely want four systemizers. If that means 3 men and one woman, so be it.

But I want an empathizer to choose the upholstery.

Sources:
• Broad National Effort Urgently Needed To Maximize Potential of Women Scientists and Engineers in Academia, The National Academies News

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.

Apart from the obvious musical challenges, it’s hard to imagine Tammy Wynette’s famous ballad as, “Stand by your Systemizer.” Just think of her belting out the first line as, “Sometimes it’s hard to be an empathizer.” However, there is a general perception that a woman’s life is harder than a man’s.

Womens’ Work is Never Done
Germaine Greer (an infamous Australian feminist) says that women don’t know how to relax. In addition to paid work, women are also responsible for most of the housework and childcare. Even womens’ leisure activities (shopping, personal care, and beauty) are approached as more of a necessity than something to do for fun.

Men Spend More Time at the Gym
A study completed by the British government in the year 2000 shows that men and women have, on average (everything is “on average”), the same number of work and leisure hours in a day. However, they tend to spend their leisure time differently. Men spend more time playing sports, watching TV, and traveling. Women sleep a little longer, have more of a social life, and (darn it) devote more time to eating. It makes sense that women, who tend to be empathizers, spend more time socializing than men, who tend to be systemizers.

Differences are All in the Mind
It would be very interesting to see work and leisure activities split by brain type instead of gender. Would we see an even more marked split in the choice of leisure pastimes? Would women and men with the “female” (empathizing) brain spend more time on the leisure activitities that are mainly attributed to women? Would men and women with the “male” (systemizing) brain spend more time on activities that we tend to associate with men these days? I’m pretty sure this would prove to be the case.

Suddenly, Shania Twain’s enthusiastic lyrics, “Man, I feel like a woman,” make more sense to me. I always thought they should be sung by a man.

Sources:
• How Do We Use Our Time? The UK 2000 Time Use Survey
• Why Women Don’t Relax, May 04, 2006, Guardian Unlimited

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.

Does Britney Spears have a pink personality? Is Angelina Jolie more of a fox or a weasel? Maybe Brad Pitt has the same personality profile as Harry Potter’s Professor Lockhart. Jessica Simpson is surely a contemporary Cinderella. What about Jennifer Aniston? Princess Leia from Star Wars, perhaps.

Online personality tests claiming to define the ‘color’ of your personality, your animal type, the Harry Potter, Disney, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Cartoon character that best represents you are rife on the Internet. Gone are the days when your personality profile could be evaluated only by a trained psychoanalyst. These days, you can define yourself and everyone else with the right web site and a few clicks of the mouse.

Personality Tests Past and Present
Whatever happened to the ‘serious’ personality tests? An online search for ‘serious personality tests’ reveals top results boldly offering non-serious personality tests. Ah well. A revised search on Myers-Briggs (woo wooh, we said that in hushed tones twenty years ago) returns several serious Myers-Briggs sites (including one offering your personality ‘formula’) and the ‘Keirsey Temperament Sorter’ system. There are a couple of sites offering tests based on Jung’s typology (very serious), but none of them sound nearly as interesting as tests defining your personality color, animal, or Harry Potter or Star Wars character.

Interpreting Personality Profiles
There’s another issue with both serious and non-serious personality tests. What do they all mean? Truly, it doesn’t help me to know that my Harry Potter character is Professor Snape, or that I have an orange personality type. I seem to recall that Myers-Briggs labeled me an ‘INTP’, but I have no clue if that means I’m friendly, more concerned with things than people, interested in systems, or a loner. It would be pretty sad if I needed a personality test to find out, but I’m sure you get the idea. This is where the EQ SQ tests come in. I really LIKE the fact that the names of the tests actually mean something. Probably because I am more of a systemizer than an empathizer.

The Future of Personality tests
I think ‘character’ personality tests are here to stay. We can only expect more creative variations. In fact, I’ve thought of a new one. What kind of fruit or vegetable are you? Let’s consider Angelina Jolie? A lime, maybe? Not as common as a lemon, but just as colorful and with the same tart nature (ahem).

Please tell me that this personality test does not exist already.

Sources:
• Dewey Color System
• The Animal in You
• The Harry Potter Personality Quiz
• Which Disney Character Are You?
• Star Wars Personality Test
• My MBTI Personality Type, The Myers & Briggs Foundation
• The Keirsey Temperament Sorter

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.