Learned: Gender Evolution - A blog by Andrea Learned

(LEARNED) "The End of Men?" A recent article by Hanna Rosin in The Atlantic got me thinking.  And her words were not as inflammatory as you may imagine.  Instead, her article takes a sweeping look at how our culture has evolved from an organizing principle of patriarchy to a situation that looks much the opposite.  She makes the point that times have simply changed with regard to measures of economic success.  The talents of all adults - not just half of them - are the key.

So if time’s up for the patriarchy, does that mean we’re heading full speed to a matriarchy?  No. We need to equally value what men and women contribute, and to encourage them to do so using their own unique styles.  We can get there if our culture, and the media that covers it, stops emphasizing the extremes.

In my mind, what lies in the center of the pendulum swing between extremes is most important.  And this middle ground is key in both our gendered work culture and our sustainable business practices.

The "women’s era" seems to be all the buzz right now. But the truth may be that things have shifted to give men the opportunity to learn as much about "feminine" ways of thinking as women have already learned about "masculine" ways of thinking.  Times are indeed different.  But both men and women are adapting.  We are all settling in to that pendulum center.

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