Please comment to the following questions by Friday. No need to comment on others’ responses this time. You can reference p. 241 of the text. What effect will the differential between men and women have on them and CNU’s future? Will a surplus of educated women allow more women to attain jobs that were once awarded to men? How might the disparity alter social relationships? Will men experience difficulty establishing lasting relationships with women who are better educated than they are?
April 8, 2009
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The disparity in gender on campus will effect people in that some women will clearly have to become lesbians because there are not enough men. Just kidding – there are two colleges nearby and no shortage of military persons. I honestly don’t think the fact the we are more female than male makes a big difference other than that maybe it gives men more power to choose what women they desire on campus rather than vice versa. Academically, I don’t know that it makes a difference, although maybe professors will gradually adjust their teaching styles to be more conducive to female learning…
I can only hope that a surplus of educated women leads to women attaining positions previously awarded to men, but that might not be so. My father has no higher education, (no associates, no vocational trainging, nothing), however, he pulls in 85,000 a year as an engineer. Yes he is very smart, yes he works hard, but is part of it the fact that he is a man? ALso, if you look at occupations such as welders, a women with a degree in welding or whatever is more likely to be directly promoted to manager than a man with the same degree – the man will have to work his way up and put in some time doing grunt work than the woman (my source is my uncle jimmy who is a welder and tried to convince his daughter to go into it). Sure this is nice for the woman, but it is still keeping women out of traditionally male places.
“Will men experience difficulty establishing lastling relationships with women who are better educated than they are?” For the past bajillion years, have women experienced difficulty establishing lasting relationships with men who are better educated?? This debate has raged on since 16th century britain (and much before I’m sure), and yet women continue to advance their education levels and men and women continue to be in relationships. (And yes I’m aware of divorce rates, but I would like to remind people that people are actually staying married for the same amount of years, they tend to get a divroce at the time in their lives when people used to die). So my answer is NO. I think gender norms may change so that is ‘feminine’ to be smart and educated and ‘masculine’ to be perhaps less educated, but better at maths, sciences, and computers than women. Oh wait I think that stereotype is already underway! What is considered masculine or feminine changes at least every hundred years. People adapt to changes and shifts int he world and this is no different.
I realize change can be scary, but really people… in another hundred years or so when women run the world, we’ll wonder how it was any other way….. just like now we all know that baby girls wear the pink blankets… back in the 1910s, it was little boy and no one questioned it. Some cultures have always been run by women.. we just don’t see it.
Comment by jeanine — April 8, 2009 @ 2:26 pm
As far a gender affecting the CNU campus, I think that it will make women even more independent of guys, since the percentage of women will begin to succeed the ratio of males. Guys will love it as they can have a larger group of girls to choose from and get to know, there won’t be this “race” to find a girlfriend. Also women will continue to step up their degrees and careers, making themselves even more independent financially and economically within the community. I feel like course curriculum and class structures will change slightly, as more women infiltrate the classes, a different teaching style will emerge. The professor teaching styles will emerge into a style that is more advantageous and beneficial to female learning attributes and educational techniques. Course lesson will become more structured, organized, and offer more interaction and reflection within the classroom.
I really do hope that with all the aspiring educated women entering the job markets that they will give the “male job careers” a run for their money! In my opinion, it is getting ten times better now, than how it was years ago. Years ago, as we’ve discussed in class about gender spotlighting in the work field, women were just thought of as a “female nurse” but could not be considered a doctor, because that was a male dominated field. Today women are becoming CEO’s, CFO’s, Company Presidents, self employed entrepreneurs, Doctors, Lawyers, and really starting to embrace and pave their own way through a male career field. My mother, 30 years ago wanted to be a doctor, but was told “females” should become a RN, or physician’s assistant, basically they were not smart enough to rough it through the medical road. Since that time, it has definitely changed, for the better. Although women are still being paid less than men, I hope that over time women will continue to rise to the top of their fields. Hopefully through media, education and strong willed women, they can even the playing field in the workplace.
As far as social relationships and men dealing with “more educated” women, I definitely feel that most men, not all will at first struggle with this. Now some guys find intelligent, stronger woman attractive, and they feel like her intelligence challenges them, and they work well as a pair. However most other guys want a girl to not be dumb, but they want to be the dominant stronger one. They want to know just a little bit more, have a little bit more intelligence, so they can feel empowered and helpful in their relationship. But whatever, some guys will just have to deal with it! Women were the homemakers for years, and now they are stepping up, guys should appreciate this in women just deal that not everybody has to be the best or dominant one. As we know guys can be stronger in math, and science (analytical) side, while girls have the creative, artistic, communicative side (and in some cases vice versa).
Women are definitely stepping up their game, but I feel like over time guys will be fine with this. They just need to put their egos aside, and realize that this is fine!
Comment by ashleyb26 — April 8, 2009 @ 9:04 pm
The disparaty in gender is colleges can be looked at from two points of view. First off alot of women in the last half of the 20th century were not in school because they had to attain the Nuclear Family image and if they did go to school it was because they wanted to get their MRS Degree. It has only become an increase of women in college in the last 30 years. Women have just started to go to college and reach for some of teh careers that, for a long time, were thought to be a man’s job. For example business jobs had been thought of as a man’s job for a very long time. Nowadays more and more women are entering the feild. Science and math however, I believe are more of a regional thing. My mother and I cam from Kazakhstan were math and science are viewed as very important. So, all women and all men went into science, esp. physics. So, in my family almost everyone is a physisists. My mother also has two PhD’s in the subject. Here in the U.S. I feel like more women are not focusing on math and science but, on English and education. Which is fine but, men are focusing on jobs that “pay more.” Men also, would not have a problem with being outnumbered by women. Simply because alot of men are going to school alot later than most women. I don’t think that women will turn into lesbians or anything like that. Women and men think differently period. Both have different understandings of topics. There have been studies conducted on how women think more with (I think) the right part of their brain while men with their left.
I know that for example i can pick up a subject just by doing rather then learning how to do it. But, first I have to know how it works. My boyfriend on the other hand learns by watching and while he’s doing it asking questions. He can do construction, work on cars, work on boats, just about anything. he does it with accuracy and he knows the basics. However, he never went to school for this stuff. Today there is a greater need for a piece of paper saying you can do it than actually having the skill. They tell us in school that you have to major in this and that but, your job does not have to be what you study. I mean look at Law school students. They can study Fine Arts, fashion, whatever and still become a lawyer in law school.
Another thing to add is that alot of men are going to school later because not alot of men have money to go to college. Back in the cold war era alot of the men were GI’s and were going to school for free. My boyfriend went straight into the Marines straight out of highschool. Now, that his contract is out he is going to school. Now my cousing went into the Marines after college and is planning to go back to school after his contract is out. So, really it comes down to the financials.
I think that women might get better jobs but, think of how many women you know that have a degree and are working as administrative assistants (secretaries) or doing jobs that don’t need a degree (same with men). Also, today since this certificate era people want a master’s degree or anything higher. A BSBA no longer does it in the business world. Everyone wants experience with a degree but, no one wants to offer the experience. I don’t think that just because a woman is smarter than a man in a subject it will cause issues. i think that people need to stop thinking about “expert power” and think about learning from each other. For example i am good with financials because I learned it in school and from my mother. So, I know how to budget, how to talk to loan ppl, etc. My boyfriend did not have that experience. So, I teach him about it while he teaches me about the mechanics of weapons. Education should be flourishing and be appreciated. It’s what it’s there for. Like I tell my brother and sister “there will always be someone better than you and someone worse than you. As long as you can learn from both of them you will be a better person.”
Comment by dolaku — April 9, 2009 @ 9:43 am
I don’t think that the difference between the number of women vs the number of men will make a big difference. In terms of teaching, male professors will teach their way and female professors will teach their way. It is a matter of personal preference. Also, men are not going to stop going to college. There are still a lot of men who want to get an education, it’s just that more women are seeing the importance of school to them. In terms of dating, there are plenty of guys in the Newport News area, as well as in Williamsburg, Hampton, and Norfolk.
I don’t know if women will take jobs that men would have gotten. I think that there are a lot of girls who want to go to college, get a job, and then have a family, and work less or give up work altogether. There are more physical jobs that men generally have, like in construction and cars, etc, that require very little education. It’s possible that women will start to go into fields that they haven’t been in before, like the sciences or computers. I don’t really know any girls who are Computer Science majors, but it could happen. I guess guys would have to do the same thing.
I don’t think that education will be much of a factor when it comes to a relationship. My sister is a senior here at CNU and her boyfriend has never been to college, but they’re relationship still works. He doesn’t resent her education because he chose not to go to college. It isn’t fair for someone to resent another person’s choice to go to school, when they could have gone to school as well. I think that everything is on an individual basis and it’s all personal as to whether a relationship will work out due to education.
Comment by nancymulford — April 9, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
As previously discussed in an earlier blog, many careers and jobs will still have corresponding employees dominated by one gender because of biological differences. However, with women now dominating the educational field in numbers, I believe educated women are going to make the conscious effort to branch off into fields stereotypically labeled masculine. Furthermore, these “masculine” educational fields (science, math, etc) may turn into new opportunities for women to be the exception and to bring something new to the table. Rather than belonging to the overwhelming majority of women in “feminine” fields, women will break away from these fields and males will be their competition. I can definitely see this encroachment as a threat to a male’s territory, so it will be interesting to see if there will be any reaction from the males if they feel their space being stepped on. Unfortunately, I do not think the fact that there are more women than men enrolled at colleges across the U.S. will influence or help their ability to get a job over males. Because the U.S. still has its roots in the belief that men are the superior sex, it does not matter that there are more women than men applying for the same job. Moreover, there are still millions of women who want their husband to pull the biggest income and are fine with sitting in the passenger seat and many of these women will still attend college. I don’t think there will ever be this sweep of women domination in America but rather each relationship will be constructed differently. Where a woman comes from and what her religion is is going to play a huge role in deciding whether or not she will take the reigns of her marriage, or shy away from it. In regards to social relationships, I can only hope that women will not be afraid to show their education accomplishments in fear of intimidating a lesser educated man. However, I have witnessed incidents in which males do feel embarrassed to be with a smarter or more accomplished women and it has weighed heavily on their relationship. On the other hand, with women gaining more and more credibility every year, hopefully men will start to see women as their equals and not someone they have to be better than.
Comment by Louisa A — April 9, 2009 @ 3:52 pm
As of right now, I do not think that the ratio of males to females at CNU is a huge issue, though it may entice more males to come here knowing that they are surrounded by women. If this were the 1950’s and women came to college simply to find a husband, then CNU would have some problems, but people are coming to school to get an education. There are many schools nearby, with no shortage of males, if that is what females desire.
I think there may be a small increase of women who are higher up in the workforce appointing females over males for a job, but if so, that is not ethical. A person should be hired for a job because of their qualifications, not because of their gender. The reason women may be getting more jobs than men is due to the fact that the percentages of females attending college are higher than those of males who attend college. This could be for a number of reasons. Men may be more tempted to go into the military or trade school immediately following high school graduation. Men getting passed over for jobs may not be due to their gender, it may just men that women are becoming more qualified since more women are getting college degrees than men.
I believe there is often a stereotype that men are supposed to be the breadwinners, while the women are supposed to either stay at home or have a job, but it does not pay as well as the husband’s job. While that stereotype is becoming less apparent in today’s society, it is still considered. For example, on Desperate Housewives the characters of Tom and Lynette Scavo are a husband and wife who often butt heads over their jobs. All throughout their careers, with the exception of when she stays home with their children, Lynette is the harder worker and usually is higher up on the totem pole in her job than Tom. There are a few times throughout the seasons that Tom and Lynette work with the same company, but Tom has a lower status job than Lynette does. This often causes turmoil between the two of them. I feel that this stereotype is not as common in the workforce today, but is still sometimes a problem within couples.
Comment by lauramscott — April 9, 2009 @ 10:29 pm
With more women going back to college, the ratio of men and women at CNU will be drastically different with women outweighing the men. But one of the reasons there are so many more women than men in school is because there are a lot of women going back to school to get their degree.
I believe that if more women are up for a job and they all have equal qualifications against a male who may not have the best qualifications, I hope that one of those women would get the job. But there is still definite sex discrimination and sometimes the under qualified male is picked over the qualified female.
The difference in the number of male and females may be good for the males at schools. They will have a larger pool of women to choose from, but this may cause issues in keeping a long term relationship because there are so many other girls around that may be tempting. The women on the other hand will have a smaller pool of men to choose from and that can be annoying because if you don’t like one guy you may not like his friends either.
Comment by deeyuro — April 9, 2009 @ 11:42 pm
Right now the differential between men and women at CNU isnt horrible but as time marches on it will probably be like 20 women to one man As far as academics go, I dont think that it will have too much of an effect on how teachers teach accept that women will get more attention in the classroom because there are more of them. The men might get extra attention because there would be so few of them. As far as social relationships would go, the men would be considered REALLY lucky to be surrounded by so many women but it would probably get exhausting because they would have tons of girls fighting for attention from them because all of the women will be deprived of interaction with men because there are so few of them ( The thought of this is hysterical). We can only hope that a surplus of women would mean that attainment of jobs and upper level positions by women but who knows, maybe men would be given special treatment because there would be so few of them. Perhaps the whole world would turn around and women would rule! We would take over the “typical white male” role and men would be the minority! In which case there would probably be more lesbians because men would just be incompetent of meeting our extremely demanding needs and wants.
Comment by Amanda Jones — April 10, 2009 @ 9:52 am
I think that because of the number of women at CNU surpasses the number of men perhaps eventually CNU will go towards a more feminine learning style. However, what men do come usually study computer tech, math, or science (or theater) Still not many girls study these fields and the need for people educated in computer tech is really important and always needed. So I’m not sure in our current economy that women will surpass men in the work force because are these computer tech jobs, not really teaching (my mom’s a teacher so I hear about many teachers being cut because of budget), or nursing, or other jobs that come from humanities studies. If our economy wasn’t so bad I believe that women would start to attain jobs that were once predominantly male. Maybe because of the economy more women will start studying those subjects like math, science, and computer tech where jobs are always needed.
If women were to become dominate in the work force I think at first there would be a lot of resentment by men. I think women would start to focus more on their jobs and less on family and household and the men would have to start focusing on those things. I think women would become the new men! (and vice versa) I’m not sure if men will have a difficulty establishing lasting relationships, I think it depends on the male. For instance my sister is the bread winner and her husband is fine with it. She has the final say on things because she pays the bills. My dad on the other hand has a hard time dealing with the fact that my mom makes more money than him. He seems to work “over time” both at work and at home to prove that he is the one in control. After men get used to women being the dominate worker the ideology and stereotypes will change and men will just accept it. However I doubt the shift in ideology will change without a fight. It will take a long time to happen so unsettled, unhappy men would be our future and probably our children’s’ future, but maybe not so much our grandchildren or great grand children.
Comment by aratliff — April 10, 2009 @ 10:26 am
With more women entering into CNU’s campus I feel like their will be a lot more woman studies to take courses in. This does not mean that the University will become all female, but it will cater to a larger female audience. As for women enrolling in colleges more than men as a whole, I do feel this will be a problem. I feel that this problem lies in the hands of young men not be guided by someone to steer them into college. Women will have to become the soul providers and, at the same time, raise a family. Their will be a drop in educated men, and I feel that women will feel the need to have to be able to support themselves. This does not mean that us women will all become lesbians, but it does mean we will take on more dominant, sometimes thought of, masculine roles.
Comment by Shaqualla Moore — April 10, 2009 @ 10:56 am
I’m not really sure how to answer this question, but I definitely think that women have the upper hand, especially since college campuses are made up of a majority of women. However, I do remember reading that men tend to be attracted to higher paid jobs that don’t require college experience. I think that each relationship is different, so there will be problems between men and women later because of the woman’s superior education, but there also will be relationships that last despite the differences between modern relationships and traditional relationships. From the relationship chapter, we are also moving towards a more modern era where it’s more accepted for the woman to be the provider. So really, the relationship issues depend on the relationship itself—personally, I think there should be a balanced, shared responsibility in a relationship. There will definitely be a shift in relationships, but that’s already happening anyway. I definitely agree that women will be able to obtain jobs that were once awarded to men if they have the education and qualifications required for the position.
Comment by colepole — April 10, 2009 @ 11:48 am
I think that it’s already obvious throughout CNU, especially in the younger incoming classes, that more women are seeking higher levels of education. According to the CNU website, as of right now 55% of the students are female. I only see that progressing in the future as it gets more and more difficult to get in here. Since CNU brags that its faculty is made up of mostly Ph.D.s or those who hold the highest degree offered in their field, I think that the faculty is eventually going to be prodominantly women. If women are the ones pursuing higher education in college, they are mostly going to be the ones able to pursue education beyond that, therefore CNU will mostly only be able to higher women. This will also be the case because as the student population male:female ratio decreases, the “male” fields of study will start to have less and less interest and therefore need less faculty and funding. They have already cut the physics major here because of this, and I see similar futures for computer science, computer engineering, math, and other male dominated fields. The professors in the fields tend to be male and as their programs get cut the faculty will be female dominated as more and more students and funding go into female dominated fields. I don’t think that it’s necessarily that females will take over the jobs currently given to men, I think it will be that the ones given to men now will not be as prominant and there will be more positions that females would be more likely to get hired for.
I think that when all of this is in the beginning stages it will be difficult for males to establish long-lasting relationships with females who are more educated and possibly more successful than they are. However, I think that once it becomes the norm and everyone has to accept the fact that there are more educated women than there are educated men, it will become expected and not as much of a problem for men.
Comment by Danielle C — April 10, 2009 @ 12:36 pm
Before I talk about men attending college; I think it is important to mention jobs that are stereotypically ‘man jobs’. Things like construction work and lawn care and don’t require men to go to college. Other jobs like fireman and police officer can be performed without going to college and just passing their tests. Neither one of my brothers went to college, and one is a fireman and the other a policeman.
This may play a part in the fact that a lower percentage of men attend college than women. It sees like men have more options after high school graduation than women. This doesn’t mean men are dumber or less educated. My brothers are geniuses in there fields. They have specific knowledge about their occupation. So it’s not that men are less educated that women because fewer of them go to college. I think those who don’t obtain ‘street smarts’ instead of ‘book smarts’.
Comment by crystalgouldman — April 10, 2009 @ 12:44 pm
The amount of men going on to secondary education is definitely less than women, but all I can think of when I see that is that we have been at war for several years, and that there are more men in the military than women. Does this possibly affect the amount of undergraduates- just a thought.
The differential hasn’t affected CNU thus far, with the desire to be a student here higher than ever. We’re almost equal in amount of men and women, and I do not think that that will change much over the next few years. There are more women in college now than ever before, but like we discussed in class, the disciplines are still very gendered. A good amount of the jobs that men have traditionally held are still very math and science driven, so I’m not sure that more women attending college will fluctuate that job market much. Unless the amount of women studying math and science increases greatly, I don’t see how there will be a change in the jobs that were once awarded to men. On the other hand, more women are joining the business profession and taking high salary positions over men. In the liberal art centered job market, there will probably be a change in the personnel, with women dominating as more and more graduate from college.
I think that like with anything else, we will all have to adapt to the change. This means that men will have to get used to a majority of women they know having a high education. This change is happening slowly over time, too, so it’s not like night and day transformation of social relationships will take place.
That said, the majority of my male friends have told me that they prefer smart women that they don’t have to explain everything to. I’ve known guys to want to be able to hold a conversation with a woman, and if women are becoming more educated, the conversations will only take on more breadth and depth. I do not think that the disparity will change personal relationships to the point that men will have a hard time establishing lasting ones. It’s basically just a gender-role reversal. Women were able to maintain lasting relationships with better-educated men in the past, and I don’t see why the roles could not be flip-flopped. It is true that men are traditionally conditioned to be dominant, but that is changing, as we discussed in class. With the rise in feminism, men have become more sensitive. That same process will happen with this– it will be a gradual change and acceptance that women are becoming better educated than men.
Comment by Caitlin Boyd — April 10, 2009 @ 12:55 pm
I honestly don’t think that the differential between women and men on campus will make too much of a difference to CNU’s future in particular. I do however, have no doubt that the difference in men and women on all college campuses will make a difference to the whole college experience as a whole however. Obviously, this change in which more women than men are going to college is not only happening at CNU, it is happening at nearly all co-ed universities. I think this will make a change in the way people view college. Right now, (aside from the educational aspects of it) people seems to see college as a way to party and get to know other people, especially of the other sex, because people are particularly interested in dating at this point. I think though, if the trend continues, that people will start to only go to college for the education, not for the social life, because they will not have as great a chance to meet someone of the opposite sex. And for this reason, I think lots of people may start to just chose community college, because it is so much cheaper than going away to college, and essentially, you’ll have the same chances of meeting people. I also think, when talking about the educational styles, that universities will start to switch over and accommodate female preferred learning styles, because it will help the majority of the college. And this by itself may actually deter more males away, thus making the college experience even more female.
I think the surplus of educated women will allow more women to obtain jobs that were once held by men. But I also think that our society is already headed in this direction, partially due to the gender equality issue trying to be solved. So I don’t think that there will be too much of a difference here from what is already happening and the path that we are already taking.
As I have already explained above, I think that the gender disparity will alter the social relationships in college itself, as well as the whole college experience. I can’t decide though, which path I think men will take if they realize that women are exactly equal in every aspect to them, especially in education. I think they will either back down, and lose all their stereotyped “manly” qualities, because they feel beaten; or they will try and overcompensate their “manly” qualities to show that they are still men, and will always be better. I kind of think that they will take the second path, because males are taught when growing up to never really give up, and especially to never back down to a woman. I think that in the social relationship, this will make women and men more incompatible, because the women will probably often be annoyed by this overcompensation, and this will make it harder for men to establish lasting relationships with women.
Comment by lmertel730 — April 10, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
I think the differential between men and women won’t affect CNU in a bad way. Even though CNU generally has a bigger female population than male, it is still pretty balanced. With a few exceptions, most of my classes have an equal proportion of men and women.
In regards to women getting more jobs that men normally have had, I think that will only change drastically if women study fields in which generally have more men in them. More women may be applying to colleges, but if they continue to major in fields related to arts and humanities, then male dominated fields will remain male dominated. I think it’s awesome however, that colleges give women the opportunity to study whatever they want to whether it’s male or female dominated and that’s definitely something that women should take advantage of if they are interested in a job that mostly men obtain. Change the status quo!!
The disparity might alter relationships because I think men generally have a sense that they want to provide for their families when they get older and have jobs. My boyfriend is one of those men who was originally majoring in something he wasn’t interested in because he wanted to be able to make enough money for his future family, but he has recently changed it to something he will enjoy. Anyway, I think if more women get jobs that are more male oriented, then men might feel as though they will not be the providers of the family and the woman would take over that role. This might hurt their ego a little bit which could cause some relationship differences if the men have an old-fashioned view of things. I don’t think this should keep men from having good relationships with women though. I understand that some men are too shallow to appreciate that a woman wants to learn “manly” things, but I think men can still want and be able to provide for their families, but still appreciate what the woman does as well. Besides, if a husband and wife are both doing man oriented jobs, wouldn’t that mean even more money for the family with double the income from the same job?
However, that leads me to another thought. Even if more women enter into male dominated career fields, I think there would still be inequalities with income and rights just because of gender.
Comment by Amanda Hupp — April 10, 2009 @ 1:22 pm
In regards to the amount of women and men on the college campuses, I think there has never been a problem having more girls than guys. I know from experience, it was something to proud of when telling your guy friends the high ratio of girls to guys, and it seemed the higher the ratio, the better it sounded. I know I wouldn’t want to go to a school with more boys than girls because unfortunately there would be competition among the guys for the little amount of girls available. This is just nature, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it could be distracting and even destructive to the guy who can only think about such a thing, which shouldn’t be the reason he’s at college in the first place.
I think that more girls being educated is definitely a good thing opposed to a bad one, but whether or not it helps them in the work force is hard to tell. I mean, odds are in favor of women obviously if more women are being educated than men, but I believe that, no matter who you are or what you know, it’s more who you know nowadays than what you know that’s going to get you a leg up on everyone, but that’s neither here nor there. Hard work is ultimately what is going to matter. In reference to a post above, there’s a reason more guys have factory work/manual labor jobs than women, and it’s purely physical. Of course there can be exceptions like in anything else, which is why the ratio is more in favor of men, but with equal amounts of effort, a guy can get more done physically than a woman in particular fields of manual labor, that’s just how it is. On that same note, it doesn’t require much education, at least on the collegiate level, to do most of the work in those particular fields. In the business world, if a woman can handle a business better than the man before her, good for her. I think we’re at the point, especially in today’s economy, that it doesn’t matter what gender you are as long as you can get the job done. Desirably, it’s about what’s best for the corporation. It’s actually about what’s best for the owners of the corporation, but that’s a different story.
I believe that the male ego is the single most powerful thing in the entire world. I believe that the male ego is the single most fragile thing in the entire world at the same time. In a social relationship, men typically don’t want to compete with women, that’s not the goal, so if what we’re saying here comes up, I think it can make a difference in the way things are for the worst. Men compete among themselves about accomplishments, credentials, etc for pretty much any reason under the sun. Bringing women into that competition is not going to be attractive to most men, therefore hurting the potential for that relationship. I also think it’s relative no matter what happens socially, but in general, no man likes someone who thinks they’re better than he is. I would go as far as to say that we don’t care like we used to about equality, I think we’re all equal and all that stuff, it’s all good, no big deal. I think we have separate roles within each gender but that’s a side note. So, if a woman were to act like she’s better than a man at something he likes, competing with him, you get the idea, it’s not going to go over well with him, especially if he is attracted to her socially, sexually, whatever. The same would happen if it were a guy, but he wasn’t attracted to him in the same manner so then what we would all assume would happen would happen depending on who the guys were. I hope I’m saying this clearly, when in competition with men, women get the upper hand, of course men aren’t going to like it, however they wouldn’t like it no matter who it was. The clincher is going to be why exactly the other person got the upper hand. If the person earned it, good for them, if not, there’s the real problem.
Comment by Seth W — April 10, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
As far as your latter question- will it become more difficult for men to have long lasting relationships with women, being that there is more and more women in higher education, I don’t know. That is for them to answer, but when we studied relationships, more likely than not men do feel intimidated by more successful women. As the chapter on education showed, women have narrowed then surpassed men in obtaining college degrees. More women are seeking higher paying jobs today, and this is directly relational to the number of women seeking undergrate, graduate, and higher educational degrees. Jobs once thought only obtainable by men will be awarded to the women (I believe) because in the money world, yes, there are stereotypes but qualification is a bigger factor.
I also think that the decrease in male degree seekers is due to how they are treated, as a pathological sex, in elementary school. I don’t think ADD and ADHD should publicize drugs and such beyond the doctor’s office. They have become disorders associated with the words lazy and incompetant and that just isn’t the case.
As far as at CNU, I believe the future looks a whole lot more equal than many are ready to believe. It’s almost like both men and women are afraid to be equal. Women, after being supressed for so long feel they need to dominate at least for a little while and men feel intimidated by this. Perhaps the stereotypes that begin in elementary school regarding the different types of learning styles have caused the whole problem.
Comment by kat wilson — April 10, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
I think that the ratio of men to women at CNU is relatively the same. Most of my classes are equally balanced with both sexes. But with the rise of women students and decline of males students I think that it will make women more independent and strive to get the higher degrees and more well paying jobs. If there are more women who have degrees and are more educated for certain jobs, then I would certainly hope they would get hired for the higher paying jobs over men, even if the field of study they wish to pursue may be a “man’s field”. I feel like there are a lot more jobs men can get out of high school than women can, such as firefighter, police man, etc. and women can still get these jobs, but since they are dubbed as “men’s jobs” there are greater numbers of men to women, thus women are less likely to pursue that career.
On a social basis if women students do out number male students then I think it’s safe to say that the men will love this, because simply put they have more females to look at/go after and what guy wouldn’t want to be out numbered by girls. Personally I don’t think guys will experience difficulty establishing lasting relationships with women who are better educated than them. I think guys find intelligence attractive on women as long as they don’t flaunt it and shove it in the guys face. While women may be more book smart then men in certain instances, men retain a lot of random and practical information that is just as useful, so it creates a balance. Not saying that men are not book smart and women lack common sense, just in the general men carry random, useful information while women contain a lot more “educational”, if you will, knowledge.
Comment by Morgan Layton — April 10, 2009 @ 1:46 pm
My classes have vastly more momen than men, so I am led to believe that there are greatly more women at this school than people think. More women at universities probably means that more women will attain college degrees, and of course, more women will probably attain more positions of prestige. Social relationships, in an ideal world, should actually be mended with this change in social position, but it is also likely that men will become hostile with this disparity. However, when it comes to romantic relationships, wouldn’t education hold only a very miniscule role on whether it would work? Unlike my remark on disparity, it isn’t so unimaginable to me on the case of romance, as matters like that are superficial.
Comment by rklangford — April 10, 2009 @ 7:55 pm
I do not think it’s a bad trend that there are more women than men on CNU campus and campuses across the nation. Reflecting on my friendship experience here, I believe it would be safe to say that I have an equal amount of guy friends and girl friends. Also, whenever I’m walking on campus, I always see about the same number of guys and girls at the same time. Though, it doesn’t surprise me to know that our campus is more dominant in female numbers. I think it is just a result of the effects of post-feminism. More women are becoming visible in the education field because our society has realized that women are needed in the work-field and the best way to get there is through receiving an education. I can see educational institutions changing their curriculums to mach the learning styles that are most compatible with women, only because more women are taking advantage of higher education than men are. Perhaps if more men were going to college, then the numbers would equal out and then educational institutions would be forced to institute learning styles that are compatible with both men and women.
As far as romantic relationships go, the fact that there is more women and less men on campuses across the nation might make it harder for heterosexual relationships to occur. So many people usually find their life partners in college. The unequal distribution of men to women would thus hamper romantic efforts for heterosexuals. So, this trend might redefine what the college experience is supposed to be about. As of right now, college is for getting an education and the opportunity to find a future life partner. But with the gender disparity so widespread, college might only be for getting an education.
Comment by Susan Mbawuike — April 10, 2009 @ 8:35 pm
Like we talked aboutin class, I think that our school is more of a liberal arts school and therefor more women are interested in attend CNU. Schools with more engineering and high tech majors tend to attract more males. Our bussiness school, science department, and computer engineering programs house the most male students. But our school is known for our arts- music, theatre, dance… since the Ferguson Center was built. Our most well known masters program at CNU is in Education and we all know that this field attracts more women. I also agree with Susan. The trend that more women are attendig college is a product of post feminism. Women are becoming more career and education oriented each year. Women are more widely accepted if they are the break winners. With our economy being in the situation it is in, it helps to have both males and females being in the workplace and making good money- not to mention having the education to allow them to advance. With that being said, more and more people are attending college. It used to be that people did not finish high school. Then having a high school diploma was needed. Then having an associates degree became popular and people who went onto 4 years schools had an advantage. Now, many people obtain bachelors degrees and many people have to go one step further by getting a masters or phD.
AS far as romantic relationships go- I don’t think the gender difference is makig any difference. In Comm 410 we talk about the notion of emerging adulthood and how men go to college (as far as relationships go) to have fun and gain experience. Women hope to meet their life partners in college. But men are not interested in getting married until later in life and therefor women normally date men who are a few years older than them or evern finished wioth school. You cannot pinpoint that gender ratios are the cause of homosexual relationships or that the ratio is changing relationships.
Comment by ansloper — April 10, 2009 @ 9:30 pm
I didnt think that this was due untill sunday?
Will men experience difficulty establishing lasting relationships with women who are better educated than they are?
CNU is just like almost any other school in the country because most schools have a larger female student population. I went to JMU for a couple years and they had the same issue because the ratio of women to men was like 60/40! More women are going to college than men and graduating with bachelors degrees? I think that because much more women are going to college that they have an even better chance at getting jobs. I think that women have the same chance at getting a job, and actually have women attaining more jobs than men in the future. I think we are all equal and should be treated accordingly. Women would become much more independent and that could effect social relationships. Women would be as career oriented as men, and I think we would see a lot more dual-career families as a result.
I don’t think that it is difficult to establish a relationship with a woman just because she is intelligent. I think that dual intelligence will enhance relationships, and it is not like women are not already as smart as men in the first place. Men that look for an “easy” target or a “stupid” woman might have a difficult problem because of their lack of skills or qualifications, but real men should have no difficulty attaining a woman of equal or greater intelligence.
Billy Maloney
sorry it late
Comment by Billy Maloney — April 12, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
With the numbers slowly leaning more heavily towards the female side of the percentages of college students, I think some subtle changes will be obvious in the near future, however I do not believe that any large scale changes will be evident.
The structure of CNU itself does not necessarily cater towards either gender. The curriculum is fairly well balanced, so it will most likely not change should there be more women than men. With programs that are typically feminine like nursing or social work that have either been cut or are in the process of being cut from the curriculum, it is clear that the administration does not take gender into consideration when planning for this.
Being a little bit of a pessimist, I think it will take a much higher difference in the number of men and women in higher education to allow women to achieve equality or even a dominant position in the workplace. I hope that equality in the workplace is reached despite difference in number of college graduates for each gender.
As far as the relationship question is concerned, once again I hope it doesn’t come down to this. I have never been in a relationship where stress was caused because my success may have overshadowed the other persons achievements. The only time that this may come into question is when a woman may go off to a college or get a really good job offer that requires relocating. If the male has fairly deep roots at his present location he may not want to move with the female. Other than this possibility, if a successful, well-educated woman is not attractive to someone because of those features, then that just seems a little ridiculous. I think something that is a bigger issue, possibly because I am on the other side of the argument, is women being satisfied with dating men who are less educated than they are. I personally have a hard time seeing myself with someone who does not have the same level of motivation to succeed that I do. I think this issue may overshadow the petty issue that men may have with feeling threatened by an educated woman.
Comment by Jennifer Altizer — April 12, 2009 @ 10:43 pm
I think Billy makes a very good point: some men might feel uncomfortable being in relationships with women who have a higher level of education than them. I do not feel that this applies to all men though. Sometimes having a higher degree does not matter, although it does make for more intellectual conversation between couples. However, this might be different for the ladies. It may be difficult for a traditional woman to consider herself the person in a relationship who has the higher-paying job with a better future. Of course, some women would either not care or absoluely love that! It all depends on the education, the job, and the particular relationship.
Also, I believe that yes, since statistically more women are going through college, jobs that may have targeted men will become more readily available for the female workforce. People in higher corporations will receive more female job applicants, and women might just prove better candidates for many jobs. This is a good time to test the waters and possibly break the barrier of the “glass ceiling,” which has died out in most business but amazingly still exists in others.
As far as CNU’s future is concerned, I believe that we will continue to bring in female students if they are able to see how many girls are here and the kinds of opportunities we are given. Also, many of the males I’ve spoken with who do not attend CNU do not view the larger female population as a threat–many of them are actually encouraged to come here because they like seeing a campus full of girls…AND because some of them actually think that they will have a greater chance of success if they have to compete with women in certain fields. When several of my male friends told me this, I was not necessarily surprised, but it was interesting to hear that certain gender stereotypes were still being enforced today, in a society of knowledge and respect.
Comment by lamoretti — April 13, 2009 @ 10:51 am
Through my experience, I have encountered many boys who automatically file intelligent outspoken girls as “girls that talk too much” or girls that need to “calm down.” While I agree with my classmates who said that not all males will be threatened by females who are better educated than them, there is certainly a percentage that will be. From the moment they are born, males are treated with at least a little more status than females and therefore grow to expect this treatment, rather than earn it. I expect that the surplus of women with college educations will teach men to earn the right to own masculine characteristics and not just expect to be treated as a manly man that females should listen to and respect simply by default. There is a definite clash among the two extremes of the men that are threatened enough not to date a women with a higher education than them and the women that expect their future spouse to have more education and money. Perhaps the discrepancies in education will cause men and women to realized that in our dynamic society, although gender equality is certainly not completely established, changes in society cannot help but furthur its progress.
Comment by Julia Thompson — April 13, 2009 @ 11:06 am