DIFFERENCE AND SIMILARITIES : MEN AND WOMEN IN A WORKPLACE

What are the differences and similarities on a workplace environment for a women and for a men? Is it still the men dominating the work market? Who takes more responsibility for child care? What factors predict work-life conflict among fathers and mothers?

The difference and similarities between men and women has been always a great topic to discuss. For so many years the men has been dominating the work market and the women was always bellow the man when it comes to work subject. The women was always given the “stay home” or “homemaker” tag. But today this scenario is changing dramatically.

Women are more than ever interested on jobs that before only men could dream of having.
On the same way the scenario for the men has been changing greatly.

The number of staying home dad’s has increased these last 10 years, according to the NCSW 2008 (National study of the changing workforce).

Because of the changes on the workplace environment, the women today is fighting for her rights and getting into places never dreamed of.

When it comes to workplace subject, there are many similarities and many differences between men and women.

Based on the NCSW 2008, men and women are similar in their desire for workplace flexibility, demonstrating that balancing work and personal responsibilities is not simply a women’s issue.
Although women face more challenges in achieving work/life balance, women and men equally desire a variety of informal and formal flexible work arrangements.

Clearly, workplace flexibility is no longer just about women and child care, but is more likely a quality of life issue for all employees.

Despite similar ambitions, the number of women at the top remains low compared to the number of men.

NSCW latest censuses show that although women make up 50.5 percent of the U.S. workforce, they hold only 15.7 percent of corporate officer positions in the Fortune 500 and 13.6 percent of board director seats. They hold only 7.9 percent of Fortune 500 highest titles, and represent only 5.2 percent of top earners.

Furthermore, the majority of women corporate officers are in staff positions rather than line positions, which have profit-and-loss responsibility and more often lead to the top. Only 9.9 percent of line corporate officer jobs are held by women.

Although women and men experience many of the same barriers to success, women face a host of stereotypes and environmental challenges that their male colleagues do not, including exclusion from informal networks, gender-based stereotypes, lack of role models, and they also have to deal with sexual harassment.

The sexual harassment topic is something that many times women have to deal, versus the men that is usually the one trying to get advantage of the female employee.

In addition, women are significantly more likely than men to face challenges balancing their work and personal lives. They have also made more choices and trade-offs between their work and personal lives.

According to the NCSW 2008 there are more father’s at home taking care of the children than ten years ago.

The number of staying home mom decreased and the number of staying home dad increased.
This is all a reflection of this new rule of workplace today. The fact that a women has children does not make her to stop her plans for a better carrier.

The women today has a new spirit of entrepreneurship that was not seen so often before. The women today are opening business and going back to college. The women today is taking her professional life to a whole another level and proofing that they can achieve their dreams and they can make it happen, just like the men can.

The workplace has changed in the past ten years and will keep changing for a long time.

The men and the women are adapting to all these economical problems that the world is confronting and that is one of the reasons that we see more women working today then ten years ago.

The women knows that they need to work to help pay the bills and also for her self esteem.

I believe that the women that works have a much better self esteem then the women that stay home with the children.

I’m very proud to be a women and to participate on the workplace environment. I can learn a lot from all the new contacts with people and with all the obstacle that I confront at work.

The women today deserves all the recognitions from our society. Our women today not only takes care of the children, but they also go to school and they run businesses.

Here are some general variations in the way men and women communicate.

• Women and men are now days both concern on a great carrier.
• Women concerns more about taking care of the kids than the men.
• Women are still making less money than the men holding the same job.
• There is much more women that works from home, then men.
• Women deals much more with Sexual Harassment then the men.
• Women have to deal with maternity leave and the men don’t
• Both styles of communication are equally valid. 

Men and women communicating in the work  place.

DIFFERENCE

1. Men focus on power / rank / status. Women focus on relationships.
2. Men talk to give information or report. Women talk to collect information or gain rapport.
3. Men talk about things (business, sports, food). Women talk about people / relationships.
4. Men focus on facts, reason and logic. Women focus on feelings, senses and meaning.
5. Men thrive on competing and achieving. Women thrive on harmony and relating.
6. Men "know" by analyzing and figuring out. Women "know" by intuiting.
7. Men are more assertive. Women are more cooperative.
8. Men tend to be focused, specific, logical. Women are holistic and organic.
9. Men are at ease with order, rules and structure. Women with fluidity.
10. Men immediately want to get working on a project. Women tend to ask lots of questions before beginning a project.
11. Men want to think. Women want to feel.

SIMILARITIES

1. Men and women both still use written communication via e-mail or SMS to communicate each other.
2. Men and women both show gestures when speaking as an example of hand and arm movement.
3. Men and women both make eye contact when talking or communicate with each other.
4. Men and women both show the body language so the others can easily understand what they are saying.
5. Men and women both are still associating emotions in communication with each other.

Giving Orders
Several well-respected studies have shown women tend to soften their demands and statements, whereas men tend to be more direct. Women, for example, use tag lines, phrases like, "don't you think" following the presentation of an idea, "if you don't mind" following a demand or "this may be a crazy idea, but" preceding a suggestion.

Many women are conditioned by culture to maintain harmony in relationships. That conditioning is manifested in softened demands, hedged statements and a generally more tentative communication style.

The important thing to remember is that tentative communication does not mean the speaker actually feels tentative or is lacking in confidence. Similarly, more direct communication -- as seen with some men and, because we can't generalize, some women, too -- does not mean the person is arrogant, bossy or feels superior. These are nothing more than learned ways of communicating.

Asking Questions
women generally ask more questions than men. We have all heard or experienced the anecdote about the man who refuses to stop to ask directions when lost. We get a good chuckle out of this story, but differences in how and when questions are asked can create real confusion in the workplace.
Asking questions means different things to men and women. Men ask questions for one purpose only: to gather information. For women, asking questions serves two purposes: One is to gather information but, as you've probably noticed, women will also ask questions when they already know the answers. Why? They want to show interest in what the other person has said to cultivate the relationship.

Overcoming Misunderstandings and Misinterpretations
Men are perfectly right to be more direct and ask fewer questions, while women and some men are simply more comfortable with a softer style of communicating. The problem arises when these differences lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretations, which can ultimately disrupt teamwork and even derail someone's chances for upward mobility.

source : https://alinelowry.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/the-difference-and-similarities-between-men-and-women-in-a-workplace/