Do gender differences exist in definitions of success? Thearticle suggests that there may be a few key areas where they do.If so, how much do these definitions shape us and where do thesedefinitions come from? Are the definitions societally defined? Arethey different across cultures? Have our definitions of successchanged over time? In a well reasoned discussion post, explorethese questions, bringing in personal examples as evidence tosupport your argument. Remember that you must also reply to two ormore discussion posts from other students.
this is the article
Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business
Comparing Men’s and Women’s Definition of Success
Iraj Mahdavi
When John Gray’s book, “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venusâ€was published in 1992, its success was guaranteed for all practicalpurposes and intends, because it hit a certain attitudinal cord inthe American readers which was bound to make hem respond strongly.In this society, as in almost all other societies, there seems tobe a certain cultural belief, implicit or explicit, that men andwomen are different. Anyone who articulates this cultural belief iscertain to be rewarded by public approval, and other more tangiblerewards. If an explanation is also offered as to why suchdifferences exist, and the practical implications of theirmechanisms, approval and rewards are several folded proportionally.This is an age-old belief.
Whatever its origin, this belief has persisted throughoutcenturies in almost all civilizations. It can be argued that themost important function of this notion, which may explain itslongevity, is the justification it has provided for discriminativetreatment of women in the society. Discrimination against any groupof people, and prejudice that follows it, seek and develop theirjustification in the very notions that separate such groups anddifferentiate them from the rest of the society. David G. Myers(1994) presents a very interesting and concise discussion ofdiscrimination and prejudice. Based on his idea, withoutjustification, affective attitudes of men towards women be theymothers, wives, sisters, lovers, etc. would not allow theirtreatment as less than equal. Psychological dissonance created bythe conflicting attitudes of love, affection and general attractionand the socially determined discrimination (prejudice, sexism)against women can only become tolerable by a culturally sharedbelief that women are at some level essentially different frommen.
Such socially sanctioned beliefs (almost myths) can be observed,even to day, in many cultures where they serve as the justificationfor such inequitable treatment of women. Although recent studiesshow that prejudice against women is “far less common today than itwas†even a few decades ago (Myers, p.228), there are manyarticles, research papers and books that are being published everyday that argue otherwise. For example see Cynthia B. Costello andothers (1998), who through a series of articles examine the dynamicposition of women in the American society in the twentieth century.The overwhelming argument put forward, and sentiments presented,along with data and other documentation is that there is nodifference between men and women, and therefore, there is nojustification for discrimination. There is, however, a growing bodyof recent studies that point to the existence of some differences.Some of these articles point out differences in the biologicalfunctioning of the two genders, such as the recent report from theUniversity of Indiana that proposed that while women use both sidesof their brain while listening, men use only the left side oftheirs in similar situations (LA Times), or the newer article inthe Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, that proclaims that menand women process emotional memories in opposite sides of theamygdale region of the brain (Cahill, 2001).
Others concentrate more on finding different patterns ofbehavior among men and women. These studies generally argue thatthere are different patterns of leadership behavior (see, forexample Deaux, 1985; Eagly, 1990; Helgesen, 1990), or patterns ofmanagement behavior and types of relationship with subordinatesand/or superiors and attitude toward life in the corporate worldand place of women in it Attitudes are learned and, therefore, arevery susceptible to influence from the culture. In fact, asindividuals grow up in a society many of these so called culturalattitudes are learned through the process of socialization. Manyinstitutions are involved in this process: family, church, school,clubs, etc. Through this process of socialization/acculturationindividuals learn a society’s shared values, beliefs, norms, moresas well as world-view and attitudes. Thus, it is reasoned thatgirls and boys learn to respond to different expectations, aspireto different ideals, and hope to fulfill different roles in theirlives by example, differential treatment and injection of a valuesystem which teaches them their expected roles. Most of theseprocesses, it is further argued, have overt or subtle sexistbiases. They treat boys and girls differently and as they grow upthey consider this unequal treatment not only natural but alsoexpected and appropriate.
In the United States, an accelerated move towards equaltreatment of both genders, especially in schools and colleges, hasbeen taking place in the past few decades. It can be observed inthe increasing number of admissions of women to universities, inthe growing number and type of courses that are being offered insuch areas as women’s studies, legal studies of gender roles, andin the shifting content of many social science courses. Thus,American universities and other institutions of higher learning aremoving rapidly towards equality of treatment and expectationbetween genders, both in their structure as well as in theirteachings. As far as gender roles and expectations are concerned,they are transmitting a different culturally determined attitude totheir students.
