I should have put a smiley face 
after my comment about men being raised by women. What comes to mind is “Father knows best” where the children are raised by the mother who is directed by the rules laid down by the father, in a male dominated world.
If the male is stronger and more resilient than the female physically, (in most cases), then it stands to reason that the male would have a better chance at survival (ie by clinging to a piece of wreckage) than a female. The object is to maximize the number of people surviving in any case. If you follow the “dog eat dog” dogma, then what you have left is one hungry beast. Survival of the species is based on cooperation of all for the common good.
As you say, Friar Ted, women are no more perfect than men. Females often express their frustration differently ways than men. They may ‘bitch’ while men are famous for saying, “Step outside and we’ll settle this once and for all.” Excessive bitching, clobbering and acts of passive aggression are, indeed, failings.
The bosses I’ve preferred in my working life have been women, exactly for the qualities that DeeDee Myers apparently expresses in her book, and in the interviews I’ve seen on cable. This does not include all the women I’ve worked for, to be sure. It just seemed to me that, in general, women have been more interested in accomplishing the goal by consensus building, listening to opposing views and nurturing everyone on the team. This isn’t necessarily a female-only trait. When I was in the Army, I admired strong, experienced sergeants who were interested in helping me hone my soldiering skills and getting the entire platoon to achieve it’s objectives, as opposed to ego driven non-comms and officers who seemed more interested in furthering their careers at any cost. YMMV, to be sure.
IMHO, the definition of civility, (being a gentleman), has evolved over the centuries to allow for equality of the sexes, (ie equal pay for equal work, etc.) as Lust4Life, has so eloquently stated, and seconded by brujaja and elbows. The premise underlying this argument is ‘basic civility’ in which the common good is advanced by encouraging common sense, education and consensus building over ego, greed and aggression—the latter historically most often associated with the male of the species. There was a time when civilization depended on a strong male, but being able to beat up everyone else had to be tempered by benign leadership and knowing what was best for the entire tribe in the long run. The ‘Goliaths’ of the world were usually lead by a smarter chief who was not necessarily the biggest and meanest hound in the hunt.
Women were granted the vote after centuries of male domination. A blink in the history of mankind, (50,000 years, I believe), but too long in short time man has been ‘civilized,’ four to six thousand years, (But women are still dominated some Middle Eastern nations and in some Asian nations, particularly in China wherein female infants are aborted or abandoned in much greater numbers than male. It’s true, Malacandra, that the average man only got the vote “just a blink” ahead of women. This is a testament to the availability of books, the advancement of general education and the concepts of justice and equality for the masses. Educated people are expected to do what is right for the community as a whole. If we ‘big dogs’ open a door for a female, (or the elderly, disabled, etc.), isn’t that good for us all? (I also expect a woman to open a door for me, if I’m struggling with packages, etc.)
Catastrophic events not withstanding, the best and only hope of person-kind, is common sense, education and civility toward all. “Do on to others,” is a wise choice, even for existentialists, atheists or Pascalians like me.
Aside to Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party: I was thinking of Cleopatra, Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great. I must confess I don’t know much about the reigns of these women. I was guessing, to be honest. The point is that the number of women who rose to power in early history and aggressively expanded their empires are few, compared to men.
