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Guest article by Pat Heim

Guest article by Dr. Pat Heim, one of America's foremost experts on gender issues in the workplace.

Valuing Both Genders – Innate vs. Learned Behavior

By Pat Heim, Ph.D.

I had the privilege recently to take an anthropology course entitled Sex, Gender and Culture. The professor, Dr. Joan Barker, was one of the best teachers I have ever encountered. My goal in taking the class was to understand how much of our gender-related behavior is innate vs. learned. Studying a wide variety of cultures was fascinating. Here are my conclusions.

Competition among men seems to be consistent across cultures-whether it is spear throwing, gourd carving, body painting or jockeying for the corner office. This is probably driven, in part, by testosterone. Females tend to partake in cooperative or solo activities, such as gathering. (Much to my surprise 99% of all humans that have ever lived have been hunter/gatherers-this agricultural stuff is very new.) Relationships among women is critical for survival of the babes. This is probably driven, in part, by the hormone oxytocin. Therefore the hierarchical world of men and the flat culture of women seem to be pervasive. How this plays out varies significantly across cultures.

In their world of competition men are consistently looking for "the win," or another way to say this is they are focused on the goal. Females did work that would allow them to start and stop as needed to care for the children. The world of women tends to be process focused. Over the millennia these traits probably became hardwired in our brains.

The bottom line for businesses today is that requiring one gender to behave as the other (e.g. requiring women to behave like men or conversely) is the equivalent of requiring an individual to use their non-dominant hand. Yes, if you are right-handed you can write with your left hand, but the product will be inferior and the effort will be significant. Valuing the unique differences and strengths both men and women bring to the workplace is the best strategy for organizations.

Dr. Pat Heim is CEO and has led The Heim Group since 1985. She is also a best-selling author. Dr. Heim is internationally recognized as an expert in the area of research on gender issues and differences in the workplace. She has brought together a team of speakers and facilitators who are dedicated to identifying and solving gender-related issues which are invisibly present in business today. For more information and to see their client list visit www.heimgroup.com or call 940.767.4787.

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