New Research Revives Psychological Differences Between the Sexes

Source: www.Factoidz.com

The argument that men and women are more alike than different has been supported by expert consensus among those who study personality differences between the sexes. Most notably, a 2005 study by Janet Shibley Hyde, professor of psychology and women's studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who reported that men and women were actually very similar, not only in personality traits, but in other realms of supposed gender difference, like self-esteem, leadership, and math ability. However, this theory is being challenged given recently published findings that women and men are more appropriately viewed as “different species”. A return to the Men are from Mars and Women Come from Venus way of thinking is revived in a new study that suggest that men and women feel and behave in markedly different ways. For example, men are far more dominant, reserved, utilitarian, vigilant, rule-conscious, and emotionally stable, while women are far more deferential, warm, trusting, sensitive, and emotionally "reactive." The two sexes were roughly the same when it comes to perfectionism, liveliness, and abstract versus practical thinking.

In effect, only 18 percent of men and women match in terms of personality profiles, and that's staggeringly different from the consensus view, according to the newest data. It may that because past research usually compared one variable at a time, this method led to underestimations of sex differences because when personality traits are combined the result provides a more significant variation. And, it appears that researchers may have been biased in their methods in order to reduce any gender difference, but a growing recognition that acknowledging sex differences will improve sensitivity to quality care.

Gender Equity Still Long Way Off According to Catalyst Report

Findings from the 2011 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors, Executive Officers and Top Earners, indicates that gender equity at the most senior ranks of corporate America remains elusive. Despite some reports that women are hanging on to jobs at a better rate then men, a glimpse at business leadership reflects a workforce in which women remain at the middle and bottom rungs, with a continuing gender gap at the top ranks no better than six years ago. Among the Fortune 500 companies, only 16% of board seats, 14% of Executive Officer positions, and only 7.5% of top earners represented by women. Across all parameters, the trends remain flat. For example:

Photo from www.goodenoughmother.com

•   Less than one-fifth of companies had 25% or more women board
 directors

•   About one in ten companies had no women serving on their boards.

•   Women of color held only 3% of board seats

•   Women held only 7.5% of Executive Officer top earner positions, while men accounted for 92.5% of top earners

•   Nearly one in five companies had 25% or more women Executive
Officers and more than one-quarter had zero

Another Catalyst report, The Bottom Line: Corporate Performance and Women's Representation on Boards (2004–2008), reflects that gender diversity in the boardroom correlates with better corporate performance, such that Companies with three or more women board directors in four of five years, on average, outperformed companies with zero women board directors—by 84% for return on sales, 60% for return on invested capital, and 46% for return on equity. Given these findings, Catalyst challenges corporations to 'harness American "can-do" spirit to make action synonymous with commitment to achieve gender parity and enable a wealth of talented women to advance and contribute.'

Is medicine becoming a woman's world?

Graphic design by James O'Brien

In the UK, women doctors are set to outnumber their male counterparts by 2017. The press has dubbed the rise "worrying" and "bad for medicine" but in an editorial in Student BMJtoday, author Maham Khan ponders the sex specific shift in medicine and asks if too many female doctors is bad for medcine?                       

Jane Dacre, Medical School Director at University College London, believes feminisation is a fact, but disagrees that medicine is becoming overfeminised and suggests that the rise of women doctors is bridging the gender divide. "I don't think we have yet reached an era of feminisation. What we are doing is reaching equality," she says.

Many studies show women dominate in specialties such as general practice, paediatrics, and palliative care, but some branches of medicine, such as cardiology and general surgery, remain closed or unattractive to women, according to consultant cardiologist, Professor Jean McEwan. Other prominent professors agree that women are not reaching the highest positions, and research shows that, unfortunately, a gender pay gap still exists in medicine.

"Medicine is not a profession of gender equality," says Anita Holdcroft, Emeritus Professor of anaesthesia at Imperial College. "Research shows women often feel uncomfortable in negotiations over pay. But yet they are doing the work. And the percentage of women who apply for clinical excellence awards is less than men." She suggests we need to think about how to overcome some of these gender barriers and enable women to "become visible. 

So, why are men becoming an endangered species in medicine? Will Coppola, a senior lecturer at University College London, believes the problem starts at secondary school. "There is a serious problem with underachievement of boys at school," he says, and he suggests that medicine is becoming a less attractive career option for men for reasons such as loss of status, regulation and control, and decreased autonomy.

But is a female future bad practice, asks Khan? Despite the fears propagated by the media, more women in the medical profession could lead to safer practice, she writes. A review of complaints received by the National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS) shows women are less likely to be subject to disciplinary hearings.And she adds that findings published in a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission highlight the progress of women in medicine. "With the report saying it will take women 55 years to reach equal status with men in the senior judiciary and 73 years for women directors in FTSE 100 companies, it seems in terms of numbers, female doctors have made giant leaps for womankind," she concludes.

The question for US physicians (rhetorical, of course)  are women good for medicine?! Given the need to adjust clinical trials to reflect sex and gender specific differences, and to report findings that reflect differences in sex and/or gender, and the challenge of caring for women based on their biopsychosocial needs rather than as an estimate of what's good for men, suggests that more women is just the medicine needed to improve the  health of all.

Sex and Space: The New Frontier

It’s important to consider Human Factors to tailor care well. -- Saralyn Mark, MD

As the United States plans for a trip to Mars, a conference, Women and Mars, was held at George Washington University to begin the discussion of the role that women are playing and will take as the nation prepares for this monumental voyage and throughout its exploration.

         Of particular interest is the 'Getting to Mars' panel which includes a presention by Saralyn Mark, MD, president of SolaMed Solutions, who speaks to the sex and gender differences that must be considered in preparing the astronauts for travel, particularly for such an extended travel with exposure to radiation and antigravity. Dr. Mark was the first Senior Medical Advisor to the Office on Women’s Health at the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Her presentation incorporates findings that appear in a book chapter, "Cosmic Cosmetology".  
To view the panel discussion, Click Here.

In Sex Differences of Knee Osteoarthritis, Women Have More Pain, Less Function Despite Equal Physical Activity

The Advancing Womens Health Initiative applauds the best medical headline: Men are babies, reason number 4,832, published by Stone Hearth News in sharing findings from a study on sex differences in knee osteoarthritis. 

       The relevance of the study demonstrates that women continue to be as physically active as men prior to total knee replacement even though they have significantly more pain, greater pain sensitivity, poorer perceived function, and more impairment on specific functional tasks despite  knee osteoarthritis (OA). This is significant given that knee OA affects a greater proportion of women than men. Results indicate that there are significant sex differences in pain intensity, pain sensitivity, and functional ability, but not on psychosocial measures or physical activity. Women had significantly worse pain and more impaired function than men. Yet, depression, anxiety, pain catastrophizing, and social support did not differ significantly between the sexes. Factors explaining differences in 1) pain during movement (during Gait Speed Test) were pain at rest, knee extension, anxiety, and pressure pain threshold; 2) function (Gait Speed Test) were sex, age, knee extension, knee flexion opioid medications, pain duration, pain catastrophizing, BMI, and heat pain threshold; and 3) physical activity. While only a provisional abstract is available at present, full publication of the study by SM Tonelli, BA Rakel, NA Cooper, W Angstrom, and KA Sluka is in process in the journal, Biology of Sex Differences.

 

Advancing Women's Health Blog: NWLC Shares Insights into Supreme Court Consideration of Affordable Care Act

Advancing Women's Health Blog: NWLC Shares Insights into Supreme Court Consideration of Affordable Care Act

NWLC Shares Insights into Supreme Court Consideration of Affordable Care Act

Several lawsuits have been filed to challenge the Affordable Care Act.Two courts of appeals upheld the constitutionality of the new national health care law, while one overturned it. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two of these cases in March and issue a decision by June 2012.

To make clear what's at stake, the National Women ‘s Law Center (NLWC) explores the legal challenges, and examines what women could lose if the law is struck down. When it goes into effect in 2014, the Affordable Care Act puts an end to insurance companies' practice of treating women as if we are a pre-existing condition. Already, the law is helping women and families by making it illegal for insurance companies to drop a person who gets sick, prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, and ensuring that new health plans provide no-cost, preventive health screening services, such as mammograms and pap smears. Medicaid coverage will expand to cover 8.2 million more women, guarantee maternity coverage, and end the practice of charging women more than men for the same level of coverage. All of this is at stake in the decision to be rendered by the Supreme Court.

Click here to follow ongoing news analysis of litigation and to see updates by the NWLC related to the Affordable Care Act.