Yes, I think they do

 History is littered with women at the forefront of industry, innovation and war. From Nobel Prize winners of the likes of Madame Curie, through to the exploits of Cleopatra and the veritable warmongering of Boadicea – women in charge and leading from the front is not uncommon and, if anything, is a well-documented occurrence.

 So how is it that after centuries of proof that the female species is on par if not well ahead of the male pack in so many ways, firstly does society allow for the questioning of whether women or men are better at almost everything? And secondly, who is doing most of the asking?

 I would venture that my answer to the first question would relate directly to the answer of the second. In both cases, it is the tribe of Adam. To me, the 1980s were particularly bad for the image of women in business. Growing up in the era of JR Ewing as I did, women were made to look as though the better looking they were, the greater chance we had of either seducing them or hiring them as an office secretary.

 Dolly Parton in the movie Nine to Five may have taken some revenge for the female species, but not without a theme song and a shotgun. Even at that tender age, there seemed to me a dire need for women to exist in business on a level footing without the need for weaponry or the ability to type 60 words a minute. I have no doubt that competition is healthy, but there is as yet no proof that men are winning the supposed “Olympics of the species” or, in fact, anything close. What is clear, though, is that it is predominantly men who are the ones who question the effectiveness of women, rather than the other way around.

 Are we on the back foot, perhaps? Doth we protest too much? Feeling threatened, JR? Women have plenty of icons in daily life to cheer-lead their own cause. From Oprah to the now defunct Spice Girls and the “Girl Power” movement through to Republican Tea Party matron Sarah Palin, they represent the mere tip of the iceberg of ways women publicly express presence and power. It is only the men who feel the need to comment on it – and rarely with much positivism.

 Despite Darwin, are we still clinging onto the hope that the good old days of hunter-gathering will return and when it does, our women will be back at the cave waiting for us to arrive home so that they can start skinning the dinosaur and preparing dinner? Do we perhaps think that no one gives men enough credit for what we do? There is an argument that women will take action to be recognised based on the fact that they have succeeded in male-dominated areas despite being female. It is a circular and negative argument, though. We have achieved despite our own or, rather, society’s expectations.

 Men do not have that luxury. We are often expected to achieve, as society is bred to believe – rightly or wrongly – that we are the dominant sex. When we achieve, often there is no cheer-leading for having done so – the Backstreet Boys may just have failed the male species in not coming up with a “Boy Power” campaign.

 Men are simply expected to win or provide or succeed. When they do not, they are by perception failures. This may well explain our possible unconscious lack of recognition of the female ability. In our world, it is expected, rather than something to be spotlighted. Politics and business are no longer the domains of the male. Australia, as recently as June, elected its first female leader in Julia Gillard; Germany, one of the business powerhouses of the globe, has a female chancellor, Angela Merkel.

 Even television has allowed a woman to be captain of a Starfleet vessel in Star Trek. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Sue Ellen! We have to reach an age at some point in time where the battle of the sexes is merely a reference to an age where we had ludicrous ideas about the male-female species. As with apartheid and gay rights, we would one day look back and say, “We did what? How on earth did that even fly as an idea?”

 So where do we start? We drop the male ego bit and stop throwing in the odd but incredibly damaging references to our female counterparts as being fortunate to be there; or the fact that they got there by some sort of femme fatal move rather than sheer hard work
and ability.

 We get on with it all together, accept each other for our complementary strengths, and stop looking for excuses or the opportunity to take a potshot. It is simple in theory but tough in practice.

 The old adage of men being nowhere without women can as easily be reversed – and reversed again. Nothing happens without the other. It is elementary, Mrs Watson. Now let us get on with it. ▲