Quote Originally Posted by thir View Post
It has been my experience that, in general, women co-operate much more with each other than men do with men. Men, in general, seem to keep competing with each other. I have noted that in groups with dominant women this pattern persists, although there can be some posturing.

I guess that in mixed groups this means that women can come across as submissive compared to the men, because they do not to the same degree focus on their own status but rather on the job to be done.
I always remember a conference I attended once, which at one point divided for an hour into a men's conference and a women's. And the men 's conference immediately broke into an increasingly heated argument about what the topic should be, with a couple of wannabe leaders fighting their corners and rallying support, and people sniping from the sides, and groups shouting at each other. I happened to be sitting against the connecting door, and in the gaps of the yelling I could hear what sounded to be an interesting and constructive discussion going on in the room next door.

Unfortunately, the increased influence of women in the world today doesn't seem to have led men to learn by example. Instead, women only seem able to get on by forgetting everything they know about concensus and co-operation, and getting down in the mud with the other fighters. Obama was praised for a more "feminine" style of politics, looking for common ground and amity, and the result is that he can't get anything done in a system based on fighting everything out.

Maybe in another hundred years, if we still have a political system by then.