DMFParadox
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The matriarchal societies I'm thinking of are Crete and the Pueblo and Iroquois pre-colonization. There's some literature out there on how the Amerindian societies worked; and I reiterate, although they do work, they have problems too. A different set of problems. I want to say, they don't encourage agressiveness enough, but that's not exactly right. We're not talking about conquering the world, we're talking about a productive workplace and society that can get along. What they don't do is integrate the expression of agressive behavior in a healthy way. They are not as prepared to fight off societies and cultures where male striving has a freer rein.
Here's another example of a different aspect of what I'm talking about, and mind you, it's anecdotal, so don't judge the horse by its hair: a friend of mine from Texas used to say, "In the good ol' boy parts of Texas, you'll find the politest people in the world. They're friendly and cheerful, too. You know why?" "Nah, dude, why?" "Because they all carry guns." So by this measure, if you verbally assault them, call them names, whatever, and you leave the slightest room for letting them interpret it as a joke, they'll treat it like humor. Maybe in poor taste, but humor. They'll take it seriously, but there's a dual layer of jocularity. Because the alternative is that someone will get killed in the next few minutes. THAT's where the 'frat boy' mentality comes from. And there are a lot of frat boys in the world.
Cascading down from that attitude is a host of ways that men cooperate and compete with each other, form bonds, and form trust. And as a result of that, male societies have throughout history had more dynamism (and yes, wars) while maintaining their internal stability, albeit less stability than matriarchies have.
As a matter of historical note, all three matriarchal societies I mentioned were made effective by sending the boys away--out sailing or hunting, or to their own camp, where they couldn't cause trouble... In America, the same circumstance arose during World Wars 1 & 2 when women HAD to take over the factory jobs and in many cases management in order to keep the war effort going. It brought about a renaissance of women's lib.
What I see happening here is that when you've got individual women in the work force, they're forced out of their comfort zone and have to deal with 'sexist' behavior. Men being men. Sometimes the results are bad, but usually the women adapt. But in groups, women do not tolerate men being men. You get sexist behavior of a different kind entirely; a distinctly feminine version. Female sexism exists and it is a powerful force indeed, but it's more subtle and IMHO less suitable for a company trying to grow its business or adapt to change quickly, although it's possibly more suitable for a large company that needs to manage itself better or is in a field where safety matters more than growth. That said, the devil I know--male sexism--is a devil that's been tamed a bit. Female sexism has not, and all of its ramifications have not been fully explored. To me, I prefer the devil I know.
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ORIGINAL: DMFParadox
Matriarchal environments can be tough to work in effectively, too. Even for the matriarchs. If it were so much better, then it would have been more predominant throughout history.
Thats not entirely true...as the saying goes, "History is written by the victors" For the same reason the church viciously destroyed and attacked all forms of paganism and pretty much any other religon (Crusades ring a bell?) Anything that is different from the "norm" or vastily different from what a conquering army wishes it is changed and removed and seen as bad. Same thing with any other form of culture clash or war time. German and Japan post WW2 was an identical situation to what was described above in the form of Matriarchical vs Patriarical or the Christianity vs everything else.
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bloody hell, get me some aspirin and a whiskey straight
"The role of gender in society is the most complicated thing I’ve ever spent a lot of time learning about, and I’ve spent a lot of time learning about quantum mechanics." - Randall Munroe
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