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Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

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Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#41

Post by kqr »

ahmetnoid wrote: post #4

Still the problem here is we don't _really_ know whether this is genetic or shaped by our upbringing even when it comes to the most egalitarian societies. I'd like to see the same study done on the little left hunter-gatherers bands.

But this specific thing we do have a strong indication of! But a few hours after birth, infant boys spend a longer time looking at mechanical objects than faces, and vice versa. This is thought to be before any social imprinting has had time to develop.

It's funny that you write this comment in this specific thread, because as far as I know, it's literally the only gender difference we've observed truly since birth. (Besides some physical ones like which reproductive organs are in place, obviously.)

Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#42

Post by ajuc »

catears wrote: post #37

The definition of working with people vs. working with things doesn't seem obvious to me. As a software engineer I am working a lot with my computer. Therefore I must be working with things! But... I am just as much working with my soft skills. Scrum retros, talking to stakeholders, discussions on design with fellow engineers, testing with end-users. Some days I don't spend even a minute working with "things". I don'…

It's one of these "I know it when I see it" things. I don't think a definition is necessary, but if you need one - how about:

When you're working how often are you thinking about other person's state of mind vs a state of some inanimate (or abstract) object?

Ultimately almost all the jobs are done in groups, including stuff like coal mining. But people aren't your focus there.

Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#43

Post by causi »

kqr wrote: post #36
causi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are going to be plenty of women who are more interested in things than the median man Probably . Distributions don't necessarily have a huge amount of overlap. For example, upper body strength is also a distribution but the overlap is so small that 95% of men have stronger arms than 95% of women. With something as general as aptitude for things vs people the overlap is probably much greater than that but not ce…

You're not strictly contradicting GP. "5 % of women" is still "plenty of women".

95/95 does not mean 5% of women are stronger than the median man. The group of women stronger than the median man is tiny fractions of a percent.

https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-51a4b98a4975f1bc2e68c...

https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-c76c62e97e58fe9a64a83...

Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#44

Post by [deleted] »

catears wrote: post #37

The definition of working with people vs. working with things doesn't seem obvious to me. As a software engineer I am working a lot with my computer. Therefore I must be working with things! But... I am just as much working with my soft skills. Scrum retros, talking to stakeholders, discussions on design with fellow engineers, testing with end-users. Some days I don't spend even a minute working with "things". I don'…

[deleted]

Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#45

Post by kqr »

catears wrote: post #37

The definition of working with people vs. working with things doesn't seem obvious to me. As a software engineer I am working a lot with my computer. Therefore I must be working with things! But... I am just as much working with my soft skills. Scrum retros, talking to stakeholders, discussions on design with fellow engineers, testing with end-users. Some days I don't spend even a minute working with "things". I don'…

A bricklayer works with things. Daycare staff work with people. These are very clear-cut.

Then there are a lot of points along that continuum -- nurses and HR reps work mostly with people. Economists a little of both. Software engineers and carpenters mostly with things.

We may not agree on a complete ordering but we will get reasonably close to each other, I suppose.

Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#46

Post by kqr »

causi wrote: post #43
kqr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not strictly contradicting GP. "5 % of women" is still "plenty of women".

95/95 does not mean 5% of women are stronger than the median man. The group of women stronger than the median man is tiny fractions of a percent. https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-51a4b98a4975f1bc2e68c... https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-c76c62e97e58fe9a64a83...

Oops, my bad. Yes, you're right, of course.

Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#47

Post by mpweiher »

LouisSayers wrote: post #18
ahmetnoid wrote: post #4

Still the problem here is we don't _really_ know whether this is genetic or shaped by our upbringing even when it comes to the most egalitarian societies. I'd like to see the same study done on the little left hunter-gatherers bands.

I'm sure there must be studies done on apes that would clarify that exact question.

There are. And they confirm, so the difference also exists in apes.

Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#48

Post by chongli »

catears wrote: post #37

The definition of working with people vs. working with things doesn't seem obvious to me. As a software engineer I am working a lot with my computer. Therefore I must be working with things! But... I am just as much working with my soft skills. Scrum retros, talking to stakeholders, discussions on design with fellow engineers, testing with end-users. Some days I don't spend even a minute working with "things". I don'…

I think it’s pretty clear to me. I am much happier to be quietly doing research, writing code, testing, writing documentation, fixing bugs, writing emails, etc. Now stick me in a meeting and I soon become very unhappy. Why? Because I’m really not interested in listening to people complain about stuff unrelated to my tasks or giving updates about random stuff or whatever.

Now I don’t mind socializing with people at work and making a bit of small talk but I have zero interest in the sort of collaborative work that involves daily meetings. I’m far more productive when I can be left alone to focus on the task and it drives me crazy when people constantly interrupt me.

Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#49

Post by foolfoolz »

catears wrote: post #37

The definition of working with people vs. working with things doesn't seem obvious to me. As a software engineer I am working a lot with my computer. Therefore I must be working with things! But... I am just as much working with my soft skills. Scrum retros, talking to stakeholders, discussions on design with fellow engineers, testing with end-users. Some days I don't spend even a minute working with "things". I don'…

software is an industry that supports both types of workers, and you probably can pick out amongst your working group which ones are the people who prefer things vs people. your job may ask you to do soft work, but that doesn’t mean you prefer it

Re: Women like working with people, men like working with things, all over the world

#50

Post by ajuc »

sourcecodeplz wrote: post #5

Interesting read. Guess I've always noticed how HR deps. are mostly women, ie. Reality is though, in many situations there is not much of a choice. You gotta eat and will take whatever job is available. I personally have had jobs where I've been going in with pleasure and others when I would have rather stayed home.

> in many situations there is not much of a choice.

The problem with this explanation is - the more choice women have - the BIGGER the difference.

In countries where life is hard - women are more likely to work in STEM than in countries where you can live a good life working anywhere (or not at all).

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