The author of the book 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' Deborah Cameron speaks about the language and general difference between men and women.
One situation talked about in the article is how more women are employed in a call centre simply because 'women are naturally good at that sort of thing.' Women are believed to just possess these kinds of skills. But one of the issues surrounding men and women's fields of work is a theory made by author Baron-Cohen. 'People with the female brain make the most wonderful counsellors,
primary school teachers, nurses, carers, therapists, social workers,
mediators, group facilitators or personnel staff ... People with the
male brain make the most wonderful scientists, engineers, mechanics,
technicians, musicians, architects, electricians, plumbers, taxonomists,
catalogists, bankers, toolmakers, programmers or even lawyers.' Notice the difference between the pay of these jobs. Clearly the women are seen to deserve less money for a living because of the stereotypes we put on genders.
Cameron thinks that the literature of Mars and Venus could be seen as 'remarkably patronising towards men. They come off as bullies, petulant toddlers; or Neanderthals sulking in their caves.' However, Deborah highlights the fact that the roles men stereotypically have in society could be used to their advantage. For example, the idea that men are no good at housework. These are factors that they might 'rather leave to women anyway.'
Another point discussed in the article is how the popular science book 'The Female Brain' claimed that 'women on average utter 20,000 words a day, while men on average utter only 7,000.' But Mark Liberman, a professor of phonetics thought that these figures were false. He researched into it himself, and managed to prove that the numbers were 'plucked from thin air'. Debrorah talks about the figures written in 'The Female Brain' are now footprinted into every day life and 'linger in people's memories'.
In conclusion, Cameron's main points are that 'The idea that men and women differ fundamentally in the way they use
language to communicate is a myth in the everyday sense: a widespread
but false belief.' She highlights the fact that obviously men and women are different, 'it's just how we're wired.' However, a lot of the differences claimed to be present are just myths, in which we believe, but shouldn't.
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