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The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap

by Susan Pinker

The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Susan Pinker, psychologist and award-winning columnist, has written a groundbreaking and controversial book that reveals why learning and behavioral gaps between boys and girls in the classroom are reversed in the workplace.

Pinker examines how fundamental sex differences play out over the life span. By comparing fragile boys who succeed later with high-achieving women who opt out or plateau in their careers, Pinker turns several assumptions upside down: that women and men are biologically equivalent, that intelligence is all it takes to succeed, and that women are just versions of men, with identical interests and goals. In lively prose, Pinker guides readers through the latest findings in neuroscience and economics while addressing these questions: Are males the more fragile sex? What do men with Asperger syndrome or dyslexia tell us about more average men? Which sex is the happiest at work? Why do some male college dropouts earn more than the bright girls who sat beside them in third grade? After three decades of women's educational coups, why do men outnumber women in corporate law, engineering, physical science, and politics? The answers to these questions are the opposite of what we expect.

A provocative examination of how and why learning and behavioral gaps in the nursery are reversed in the boardroom, this illuminating book reveals how sex differences influence career choices and ambition. Through the stories of real men and women, science, and examples from popular culture, Susan Pinker takes a new look at the differences between women and men.

Review:

"Why, according to 2003 figures, do women constitute 49% of law school graduates but only 27% of practicing lawyers? Defying taboos, Pinker, a psychologist and columnist for the Globe & Mail, presents a compelling case for a biological explanation of why men and women make different career choices. Drawing on comprehensive scientific and social evidence and case studies, she proposes that hormones are a determining factor. The hormones predominant in men lead to action, focus and, often, to competitive and rigidly hierarchical professions such as law. Women's hormones lead them to focus on empathy and social interaction, and careers as teachers or social workers. Thus, despite their early advantages — girls have better language skills and discipline, while boys are more prone to dyslexia, autism and Asperger syndrome and other difficulties — women tend not to seek out 'the highest status or the most lucrative careers': They're reluctant to take jobs whose demands won't allow them the choice to focus on other aspects of their lives. Pinker says she isn't calling for a return to the 1950s housewife model. She emphasizes individual differences among men and women, but hopes that wider recognition of gender differences can lead to greater workplace flexibility and room for women's professional advancement on their own terms. She may draw a great deal of fire for this book, but her strong evidence could also open a better-informed discussion of the issues. B&w illus." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"A contemporary woman, as the expression goes, is supposed to act like a lady, think like a man and work like a dog. The joke gives us a sense of the confusion about women's roles that has plagued our culture for well over a century. As the length of women's lives has doubled from 40 to 80 years — leaving them with half a century to fill after their main childbearing decade passes — and as the number... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)

Synopsis:

"The Sexual Paradox" is a groundbreaking and controversial book from psychologist and award-winning columnist Pinker that reveals why learning and behavior gaps between boys and girls in the classroom are reversed in the workplace.

About the Author

Susan Pinker is a psychologist and a Globe and Mail columnist. Her writing has been recognized in awards from the Periodical Writers Association of Canada and the Canadian Medical Association, and she was a finalist for the John Alexander Media Award, the Aventis Pasteur Medal for Excellence in Health Research Journalism, and the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Communications. She has taught in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at McGill University and lives in Montréal with her husband and three children.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Female Puppets and Eunuchs

Chapter 1

Are Males the More Fragile Sex?

Chapter 2

Dyslexic Boys Who Make Good

Chapter 3

Abandon Ship! Successful Women Who Opt Out of Science and Engineering Careers

Chapter 4

The Empathy Advantage

Chapter 5

Revenge of the Nerds

Chapter 6

No One Ever Asked Me If I Wanted to Be the Daddy

Chapter 7

Hiding the Imposter Within

Chapter 8

Competition: Is It a Guy Thing?

Chapter 9

Turbocharged: Men with ADHD Who Succeed

Chapter 10

Things Are Not What They Seem

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Product Details

ISBN:
9780743284707
Subtitle:
Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap
Author:
Pinker, Susan
Publisher:
Scribner
Subject:
Gender Studies
Subject:
General
Subject:
General Social Science
Subject:
Sex role
Subject:
Sex differences
Subject:
Anthropology - Cultural
Subject:
Sexual division of labor
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Scribner Hardco
Publication Date:
20080311
Binding:
Hardback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
352
Dimensions:
9 x 6 in

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The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap Used Hardcover
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$14.95 In Stock
Product details 352 pages Scribner Book Company - English 9780743284707 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Why, according to 2003 figures, do women constitute 49% of law school graduates but only 27% of practicing lawyers? Defying taboos, Pinker, a psychologist and columnist for the Globe & Mail, presents a compelling case for a biological explanation of why men and women make different career choices. Drawing on comprehensive scientific and social evidence and case studies, she proposes that hormones are a determining factor. The hormones predominant in men lead to action, focus and, often, to competitive and rigidly hierarchical professions such as law. Women's hormones lead them to focus on empathy and social interaction, and careers as teachers or social workers. Thus, despite their early advantages — girls have better language skills and discipline, while boys are more prone to dyslexia, autism and Asperger syndrome and other difficulties — women tend not to seek out 'the highest status or the most lucrative careers': They're reluctant to take jobs whose demands won't allow them the choice to focus on other aspects of their lives. Pinker says she isn't calling for a return to the 1950s housewife model. She emphasizes individual differences among men and women, but hopes that wider recognition of gender differences can lead to greater workplace flexibility and room for women's professional advancement on their own terms. She may draw a great deal of fire for this book, but her strong evidence could also open a better-informed discussion of the issues. B&w illus." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Synopsis" by , "The Sexual Paradox" is a groundbreaking and controversial book from psychologist and award-winning columnist Pinker that reveals why learning and behavior gaps between boys and girls in the classroom are reversed in the workplace.
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