Hunters And Gatherers.

Discussing the distinctions and discrepancies of the genders is taboo.  Seriously, just shut up about it.  Your opinion is poisonous and our society proudly wields this secret inequality as an ethical sword against the sexist moral decrepitude of less civilized cultures.  Women and men are exactly the same in every way.

For instance: women cannot be better CEO’s.  It would be sexist to say such a thing.  Their ability to value justice over victory does not position them to have an advantageous skillset over men in this regard.  It’s ridiculous to suppose that, when given the opportunity to make decisions, with the benefit of advisement resources, and the time to sit down and carefully measure and consider all facets of a pending predicament…the fairer sex has a better track record at making the successful call.  The homerun swinging male CEO’s are just as prudent.  The rash of golden parachuting corporate profiteering CEO's, that has widened the popularly publicized divide between Wall St. and Main St., have largely been greedy white dudes.  But this is just a silly coincidence.  Men handle power with poise and grace.  This is social fact.  Do not argue. 

And men cannot be more effective COO’s.  Women are just as capable of directing the assembly line minutia of the daily grind.  Quick wits and the emotional agility to recover from temporary failures do not position males to succeed in the day-to-day management of an organization.  When a rapidly changing environment requires stability and an even keeled demeanor…you can expect a woman to do just as well as a man.  What kind of mid-century pig would suggest otherwise?

Our culture dismisses the notion that women and men can and should play different roles.  And so we lie to ourselves.  Every happily married man I know, myself included, understands how to roll with this modern family prevarication.  The wife is clearly the CEO of the home; but the husband wears the title of “head of household”.  Who are we fooling?  We know that we’re all happier when we help support the direction set forth by the CEO.  But this arrangement damages our iconic masculinity.  And so we put on a show and overcompensate for this loss of control.  Maybe it’s a mild form of bravado flag flying like flatulence or fantasy football…or maybe it’s a full blown midlife crisis.  But we do not accept the role of 2^nd in charge very well.  Even if we do a pretty good job at pretending that we do.

And the husband is much better at dealing with the daily bullshit and maintenance of the family circle.  We are the COO’s.  But our wives aren’t willing/able/ready to fully give up the idea that they are still homemaker’s.  Don’t believe me?  Just take a look at what magazines are laying around the house.  Every wife secretly wants to be her grandmother and she keeps this romantic notion alive via a magazine subscription.  Women do not accept that the male management style of “not sweating the small stuff” as responsible nor thoughtful.  The guilt that they carry, for bringing home a paycheck while somebody else raises their kids, is sometimes too much to bear.  And so we all agree to pretend like women are mostly responsible for the daily details….and men pull the trigger on the big decisions.  We are the hunters.  They are the gatherers.