Women's day

Women who think they have it bad in the United States should read about unequal opportunity in Japan.

This probably explains why there are quite a few young Japanese women moving to the United States, because there's no way they can ever have a career in Japan.

* * *

There's a NY Times article about autism and girls. The fact that autism manifests differently in girls than it does in boys is a clue to discovering the underlying biologically based behavioral differences between the sexes.

Comments

[Spungen]

Women who think they have it bad in the United States

There's really no hope for you, is there? You're incapable of mentioning women without a snarky dig. You won't even acknowledge that one group has it bad unless there's a way use it at a dig at other women who also have it bad.

[Flur]

Yeah the jab was uncalled for...

[Gloria Friedman]

Yeah, HS. You now need to appear on the radio show of whoever is the female equivalent of Al Sharpton, and beg forgiveness.

Vaginal reparations now!

"I think of a man, and take away reason and accountability." -- As Good As It Gets

[roissy]

Women who think they have it bad in the United States

"think" is the operative word here.

[Dragon Horse]

In regard to Japan:

One thing this article didn’t discuss was the lack of “day care” in Japan. From what I have observed, most Japanese people do not like the idea of “babysitters” which would require them leaving their children in the case of stranger. That is a major cultural barrier to women working, as women typically get stuck with the majority of child care (in just about every country no matter how liberal).

The article also mentions how much Japanese people work, well this is true but compared to America, they have far more days off per year. New Years, Golden Week, and about 1 or 2 National holidays per month. Most companies used to be open 6 days a week, but that has largely stopped so I guess they balance out the productivity in other ways (longer normal hours) however having worked at IBM in Japan (which was about 98% Japanese) I wonder how much actual work is being done in those 12 hour days? I think some of it is just people pretending to be busy so that everyone is there in the office, and no one leaves before the manager, to give the idea that they are hard working and dedicated to the team. There is also the traditional after work drinking as well. For those who have never lived in Japan, in many more traditional companies it is often considered inappropriate to take vacation when your “team” is busy…so people often don’t go till everyone can go at the same time or they are really really not busy. So this obviously hurts women, as they might have to leave often to tend to their children, which breaks the harmony of the group.

[Jim Beam]

How about "vaginal mutilation" that takes place in many war torn countries in Africa and in Asia? How about the fact that a woman can't walk around the town square without being accompanied by her husband in many Middle Eastern countries? Mandatory wearing of burkas; otherwise face a stone beating?

Women in Western countries have it bad?

[Dragon Horse]

Jim:

Just because one does not have it the worst does not mean things can't be better.

It is kind of like telling a woman.

"See I only slap you once in a while when you get annoying...our neighbor beat his wife senseless and she died...see you don't have it that bad...I don't do that...you dont have a mark on you..."

LOL

Get real dude. The fact that someone lives at a lesser level in no way means person B can not live at a better level than where they are.

[Jim Beam]

Apples and oranges my friend.

We're talking only about employment opportunities; and ones that are only reserved for maybe .05% of the population. Not many women executives? Big deal. Why in the hell would anyone want to be a ruthless, heartless bastard of an executive anyway? I don't know, that's just me...I guess I follow the dictum that "there's more to life than working harder."

She had to take on a "dead end job"? Pssstt....join the friggin' club! Ask the homeless guy if he would like a "dead end job"?

[Dragon Horse]

Jim:

I see your point and I think equal opprotunity is more important than equal outcome, there are obviously societal issues that have nothing to do with discrimination that lead women not to be in certain fields or management.

Still I think that you are being a little bit insensative and likely because you have never been a real minority in a situation...I'm not talking about the only men in a room of 5 women, I mean in a place where it doesn't matter where you are people who look like you (guessing white male) are not the people who have the majority of economic and political power.

I think then you might see things a little different and might be a little more sensative (rightly or wrongly).

[Jim Beam]

All I'm going to say is that short, ugly, poor people (m or f) of darker skin are probably the only ones who can rightfully complain in this country. I'll admit though that a short, ugly, dark skinned woman from a poor background probably has it worse than her male counterpart, atleast in terms of employment opportunities.

[porno perspective]

Jim,

Unless you are very short and female, in which case you can find a fairly lucrative career in fetish midget porn. Let's not forget that women performers make more than their male counterparts in that multi-billion dollar industry.

[Gil]

Don't forget Japan's really low birth-rate. Golly if heaps of young lassies are migrate to the U.S.A., the Japanese race might be extinct in 50 or so years? :\

"Let's not forget that women performers make more than their male counterparts in that multi-billion dollar industry."

Yeah, I can tell you I'm certainly not making as much as the women in the industry. I actually feel kind of exploited to tell the truth. Being a porn star isn't as great as everyone makes it out to be. But I guess I should be happy as I haven't had to do any midget porn!

[the professor]

I'm sorry, but women don't have it bad in US. It's quite the opposite.

For example: while I was a PhD student, I got rejected from summer internships at research labs (IBM Almaden, Microsoft Research, etc) in spite of the fact that I had over 10 publications at top conferences. And it was not only me. There were several of my colleagues, with similar credentials, but in a slightly different research field. Guess who got the internships at Almaden? Well, two girls, both with one paper each, in a low tier conference. I actually know one of them very well, and I know what she can do... not much. She got carried by other people in undergrad and then she made it to grad school. She's still trying to graduate. Of all the people in my research group that wanted to enter academia, women had the best deal, in spite of having by far the worst publication record. It's just that right now, top universities are looking to hire women, because of some stupid report saying there are not enough women in academia.

Women in the US wanted to "have it all." Well, they got it. They thought that would make them happy, but it hasn't judging from all the articles of how disappointed they are about not being married, not having kids, not happy with their job that was supposed to be really cool, etc...Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. Strangely, I don't see women screaming to get into my kind of work, but admittedly, it kind of sucks.