Different Perspectives of the Differences Between Men and Women
The idea that there are differences between men and women can be a pretty touchy subject. The debate is kept alive by events such as the famous Lawrence Summers faux-pas that, whether unintentional or misinformed, basically suggested that women are inferior to men in math. Disagreement over whether differences between men and women really exist usually gets dichotomized into the sexists versus the feminists but the issue is really much more complicated than yes or no.
Generally, most would agree that men and women deserve to be treated equally, but historically our society has favored men and put down women. Women were expected to be docile and work inside the home, and they had to fight to get the right to vote. Today, such ideas would publicly be viewed as backwards and outright offensive.
Still, stereotypes about gender continue to exist and be perpetuated in the present. Boys are expected to be masculine and girls are expected to be feminine, and there are certain ideas of what it means to be either, such as the activities you participate in, the clothes you wear, the way you act and so on. The idea that there are differences between men and women is no longer blatantly sexist. Rather, it takes on more of a benevolent formfor example, instead of women are weak, its now we should help women because girls arent as strong.
However, its impossible to say that there are absolutely no differences between men and women. For one, few would argue that males and females have the exact same anatomy (except in cases of intersexuality and other ambiguity). Also, research shows that generally differences between men and women really do exist. Men and women are more susceptible to different diseases and admittedly men have outperformed women on math tests. And it would seem unfair to stop dividing sports by sex because generally men are bigger and stronger than women.
In response to this, you could argue that culture plays a big role in the differences between men and women. Culture dictates what men and women participate in and what theyre exposed to. If women are thought to be worse at math and are discouraged from doing it, then of course theyre going to be worse at it later on. Men are encouraged to do sports and bulk up so its not surprising that they would grow up to be big and strong. At what point does nature end and nurture begin?
There are no easy answers, which is why the differences between men and women will continue to be hotly debated. But even if we cant figure out the answer, what we can do is treat everyone with respect regardless of gender and accept it when people embody characteristics atypical to their sex.
