David Brooks Mind Over Muscle Summary

Whereas in recent decades major strides toward gender equality have been made, sociologists are quick to point out that much remains to be done if inequalities in the United States are ever to be eliminated. Behind much of the inequalities seen in education, the workplace, and politics is sexism, or prejudice and discrimination because of gender. Fundamental to sexism is the assumption that men are superior to women.

“The human race is a bird and it needs both its wings to be able to fly. And, at the moment, one of its wings is clipped we’re never going to be able to fly as high.”

As discussed in a recent essay by Saul Kaplan “The Plight of Young Males”, there is a serious academic gender achievement gap in the United States and as I will discuss, around the world. Young women are doing significantly better than young men, and the results are shocking. In the latest census, males make up 51 percent of the total U.S. population between the ages of 18-24. Yet only 40 percent of today’s college students are men. Since 1982, more American women than men have received bachelor’s degrees. In the last ten years, two million more women graduated from college than men. As Kaplan reveals, the average eleventh-grade boy writes at the level of the average eighth-grade girl. He also states that women dominate high school honor rolls and now make up more than 70 percent of class valedictorians. Kaplan says, “I am happy to see women succeeding. But can we really afford for our country’s young men to fall so far behind,” (733)?

The ever unending topic of gender equality in the workplace and life in general is one that is uneasy to analyze. The essay “The men we carry in our minds” by Scott Russell Sanders not only hit on inequality, it also makes a major point of showing how the upbringing of an individual really impact their point of view. Depending on how we grew up or how we were raised, we all see to this matter differently.

Over the past few decades, great strides have been made by women in the workplace. This increased number in women in the workplace does not mean equality however. Even with equal qualifications and achievements, women are still not given all the opportunities that men have. The chapter in the textbook, “Gender at Work”, shows us more of these inequalities in the workplace. Such inequalities cause gender segregation of jobs and can be linked with the pay inequality in the labor force. Even in jobs that are predominantly filled by women, men earn more than women. Women are often stereotyped as being family focused and not as able to travel, therefore they tend to get passed up for promotions (Garson p.353). This invisible barrier that keeps women from moving up the executive ladder is referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Baxter and Wright p. 346). Women also tend to do more domestic work, or unpaid labor and caregiving. This extra unpaid work is referred to as “the third shift” and is largely rested on the shoulders of women (Gersel p. 352). Consequently, this seems to be one of the biggest things holding women back from taking on jobs that are normally considered male

What you are about to hear are a few letters to people in this world involving the issue of sexism. I am a young women. No one should grow up in this world thinking they can’t do something due to something as stupid as one’s gender. According to a Boston Globe article by Maria Danilova dated January 27, 2017 which states, “Can women be brilliant? Young girls are not so sure. A study published Thursday in the journal Science suggests that girls as young as 6 can be led to believe men are inherently smarter and more talented than women, making girls less motivated to pursue novel activities or ambitious careers. That such stereotypes exist is hardly a surprise, but the findings show these biases can

In the present century, women are thought to be smarter than men. They are seen as better students and harder workers. According to David Brooks, author of “Mind over Muscle,” this idea of women is made because of the gap in passing classes and reading between females and males (576).

In today's world women are perceived in the workforce as either less qualified or arrogant uptight. "Approximately 40 percent of students in elite business schools are female, and it is particularly difficult for them to move up the career ladder. A study by the nonprofit organization Catalyst in 60 U.S. top companies indicates that among 500 directors there is not a single woman" (Sinitsa). From an article "Man's world refuses to take women seriously, even in 21st century" we are shown that more than Half of the female talent is are wasted. To allow the female population to grow will be beneficial that will slow the society to grow an advance. Women can be a perfect candidate in the workforce just as well as any

Gender stereotypes are one of the most common encountered on a daily basis. The infamous ‘Glass Ceiling’ still exists in many areas of the professional world, restricting valid promotions simply based on gender. This type of concept can be verified by looking at comparative weekly wages of other professionals in a variety of industries. Most people will generally see female dominated occupations, such as nurse, teacher and secretary as requiring feminine personality traits and physical attributes for success; whereas male dominated occupations such as doctor, lawyer, and business executive are seen to require male personality traits for success (Sanderson, 2010, p. 344).

From the story, it can tell that Pollack does a lot of researches and interviews to boys and girls at schools. In the last two paragraphs, Pollack summarizes his research results and statistics showing the academic performance gap between boys and girls. He brings that over a decade boys receive lower grades than girls, fewer boys than girls now attend and graduate from college, fifty-nine percent of all master’s degree candidates are now women, and the percentage of men in graduate-level professional education is

Many people believe that men have advantages over women when comes to a topic such as occupation. Although this may be true, in some cases it is in fact exactly the opposite. Today?s society is so concerned with political correctness and equal rights to women that it has almost completely forgotten about equal

In the fight for equality, it is obvious to defend against forms of sexism that are used for antagonization. However, chivalrous attitudes that cast women as weak and in need of men are often ignored. Social psychologists have studied the effects of benevolent sexism using experiments testing one’s performance shortly after being labeled as incompetent. Benevolent sexism is not a series of compliments, but rather a threat to one’s ability to think, learn, and perceive information. The workplace is an environment of which benevolent sexism occurs most often and one of which most are familiar with. Benevolent sexism in business does not allow men and women to achieve the same goals within the work place. Forcing an individual into a social role can limit them to only specific simple tasks that do not allow for maximum personal growth.

Most cultures and societies through both history, and today have viewed women as "the weaker sex”. Often they labeled unfit to perform many jobs outside of child bearing and domestic chores, even considered less intelligent than men are. In the past, this attitude translated into fewer jobs for women, below average pay, and poor working conditions.

A majority of women aspire to obtain a higher position in their work force, but achieving that role can be difficult. Some people believe that the reason there is more male leaders than females is because women are not intelligent enough to uphold high-thinking jobs. However, according to a reliable source, " women now actually surpass men in educational achievement" ("Gender inequality and women iin the workplace" ). The issue is not of intelligence, but more of gender inequality since most women put "more hours into household activities

Many would think someone’s gender should not define what job roles are available for them. But that is not the case in today’s society. Many women are looked down upon when it comes to certain career paths. They are told every day that men will always have an advantage over them based on the field they choose to be in. The glass ceiling theory is about how there are invisible barriers that hold back women from achieving what can be seen. (Wikipedia, 2015). For example, in 2015 only 88 women were elected to represent in the Canadian general election out of 338 (Library of parliament, 2015). Although some might