A Dinner Conversation About Gender

Many of us think that gender equality has arrived. Even cigarette commercials targeted for women have said for years, "You’ve come a long way baby." And of course women have. Women are in every imaginable profession, even those most traditionally thought of as male. Men are in many professions previously occupied by women. But still, we hear the term "male nurse" --as if the word nurse itself means female. Or one all time favorite is "lady mailman". And still we see limits for both men and women in how we are supposed to behave in order to be considered within the boundaries of the rules for our gender. If women act or dress "too masculine" we know the names they are called. There are many social conventions and potential consequences for men who show even friendly affection for each other. These conventions limit all of our human potential to be all that we can and want to be and they limit our possibilities of closeness to each other. Consider just a few facts:

· Women comprise 46.4% of total labor force in the United States (Source: U.S Department of Labor 2007)

· Women (with the same education and skills) still earn 81% of what men earn (Source: U.S Department of Labor 2006)

· A recent analysis of Fortune 500 companies revealed that there were only 10 women who were Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s). When the analysis was expanded to include the top 1000 companies, the numbers increased to only 20 women who were CEO’s. (Source: Forbes Magazine 2006)

· Studies have shown that housework and the work to care for children remains mostly the job of women and in fact, women work the equivalent of an extra month each year at home performing these domestic chores.

· Approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States.  (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)