Unemployment : Why So Slow?: The Advancement of Women

Why So Slow?: The Advancement of Women

$19.68


Why do so few women occupy positions of power and prestige? Virginia Valian uses concepts and data from psychology, sociology, economics, and biology to explain the disparity in the professional advancement of men and women. According to Valian, men and women alike have implicit hypotheses about gender differences—gender schemas—that create small sex differences in characteristics, behaviors, perceptions, and evaluations of men and women. Those small imbalances accumulate to advantage men and disadvantage women. The most important consequence of gender schemas for professional life is that men tend to be overrated and women underrated. Valian s goal is to make the invisible factors that retard women s progress visible, so that fair treatment of men and women will be possible. The book makes its case with experimental and observational data from laboratory and field studies of children and adults, and with statistical documentation on men and women in the professions. The many anecdotal examples throughout provide a lively counterpoint.

Essential reading - Why So Slow is the most useful book I ve ever read on gender issues. It is packed with evidence from psychology and sociology of the ways in which gender affects the way we judge and the way we re evaluated. I took an entire course on the sociology of gender, I found Valian s book more thorough and detailed. And while readable, it s meticulously credible, including citations for every fact. There s no soapboxing or ranting -- just reason and data.I read the book 5 years ago, ended using it heavily for a thesis I wrote, and still end up referring back to the book every 6 months or so to retell some particularly interesting fact or study to others I know.

Well-written, well-organized, and... ready to go to work - Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, by Virginia Valian, is a book with a mission. It is not Professor Valian s objective in writing this book to discuss the issues of women in leadership positions with the limited number of other academics studying the issue. It is her objective to shake the people responsible for the accumulation of disadvantage of women, and to make them, or their supervisors, accountable for the recruitment and retention of women.I know this is particularly acute, and action needed, at our nation s universities, where women tend to be recruited less often than men, especially in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields, and are promoted at a rate slower than equally qualified males. The book reviews relevant research, discusses the psychological issues involved in our development of gender schemas, and discusses remedies.I have heard Professor Valian discuss the issues raised in her book, and she speaks (and writes) with authority and conviction. This book, while not light reading, is written for the educated non-specialist. You can t read it and not be disturbed at how qualified and competent people can be considered unqualified or less competent.This is a book to read, then get to work.

A true eye-opener! - Valian is a cognitive psychologist. I saw her speak at a local university and was impressed by the breadth of evidence she presented re: how ingrained gender discrimination is in the thinking of both men and women, but also with her logical suggestions for addressing this problem. (She, as a matter of fact, was invited by women students and faculty to help them strategize how to get more women into higher positions.) In her convincing talk, I was struck by the evidence that discrimination is not something done by men to keep women down, but is, in fact, done equally to women by both men and women. So I got her book and was more impressed when I read it.Valian presents experiment after experiment showing that women are held back by psychologically ingrained ideas held by both men AND women. She calls these gender schemas, which are a way for the brain to organize complex information. (They are close to stereotypes, but schema is a more neutral term). The evidence is fascinating and convincing. Examples: if a man and a woman of identical height stand in an identical height door frame, viewed separately and then rated, both men and women perceive the man to be taller. Or how a woman can make a suggestion during a meeting and no one hears it, but later a man makes the exact same suggestion and everyone hears it and thinks it s great. (Example after example you will all recognize and be disgusted by!) While the knowledge presented in this book is depressing, Valian ends with suggestions for ways to become aware of these fallacies in thinking and then actively counteract them within organizations.I LOVE this book and it is a true eye-opener. It has really opened my eyes to what women have to surmount to get ahead when there are so many hidden negative assumptions ingrained in our culture. While it is written in an academic style and perhaps less accessible than a pop-psychology type or journalist-written book, one could read the introduction and conclusions to the chapters and skim parts of the in between text if it gets too heavy. (Like all academic writers she says her main points in the chapter intro, then presents evidence, then summarizes at the end of the chapters.) I highly recommend this book!

I can t stop recommending this book to every woman I know. - I waited too long to read Prof. Valian s book. Had I been armed with the knowledge offered in it earlier, I might have been spared some of the most unpleasant experiences and obstacles in my professional life. The breadth of the research covered, on everything from how young girls are channeled into certain careers or non-careers to the publishing patterns of men and women in academics, is its most impressive quality. I find myself referring to it often in everyday conversation, and recommending it to female friends and family members of all ages and levels of employment. If I have more confidence and a more positive outlook on my life s work now, it is in large part due to Prof. Valian s superb mega-study and her suggestions for moving forward.

Finally, some data - If you re interested in the empirical findings which back-up many often dismissed feminist claims that women have a raw deal...then read this book.Easy to read with some engrossing anecdotes (included only to illustrate, not prove, her points as pointed out by Valian herself), this book is a convincing tour guide of women s achievement in male-dominated professions.My advisor in graduate school actually recommended this book with only one warning: don t read it when you re already depressed about the plight of women! By the middle of it, you might be ready to throw your hands up in the air and think the situation is hopeless...but luckily Valian includes a careful analysis of possible solutions. By googling her I also found out that she s making some proactive efforts (as a professor at CUNY) to put theory into practice. Bravo.




Why So Slow?: The Advancement of Women