# Is it a male-dominated world? Why or why not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 27, 2018, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563 "2018-01-27T02:30:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/181 "2018-02-20T10:12:39Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > If something like banking is male-dominated, I’m not sure it makes a difference to anyone except the bankers. I give my bank money, they hold on to it for a while, then later they give it back to me. I’m not sure how a woman would do that any differently than a man. The head of my bank may be a woman; I have no idea. Now, to be clear, women should have access to those jobs. If the head of a bank is a man and he favors other men in terms of hiring, promotion, lending, or business opportunities, that’s unacceptable. But for the vast majority of people, I don’t think bankers are much of an influence on our lives. > > It’s rather the same with courts, law enforcement, manufacturing, and quite a few others. The standards by which they perform their jobs don’t really give them a lot of leeway in how they choose to operate. The courts just interpret the law, they don’t (or aren’t supposed to) write it. The head of a car company has to make vehicles that he thinks the public will buy, or someone else will. A great teacher can make big difference in a child’s life, but they don’t write the textbooks or set the curriculum. > > I know that role models are important, and I hope everyone can see people like them in different professional settings and be inspired by them. That’s not what I was getting at, either. > > That’s why I phrased my statement the way I did. I was trying to think of those people who really have the freedom to set an agenda, to choose what subjects we are exposed to, and to influence what we will think about them. That’s a much smaller list. I think we’re approaching the topic from two different angles. You’re talking about role models and individual-to-individual influence. I’m talking about where the power lies within society’s institutions and systems. And although you might not see or feel the inlfuence of the latter in your day-to-day life, I think the power of the banking, legal, political, industrial institutions, etc. is enormous in shaping the societies we live in; even if we never give them any thought. It is my assumption that these institutions are still predominantly controlled by men. Ergo, yes, we still live in a male-dominated world. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/182 "2018-02-20T14:16:52Z")
> [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > Men have historically dominated women simply because they had the strength and ability to do so. Now things have become reversed, the female is now the dominant sex. In our current times, men continually bend over backwards to appease women. Not hardly. Moderate power or beta men may bend over backwards to appease attractive women, but unattractive women will not receive such attention. Unfortunately in many cases, attractiveness has become the prerequisite for a woman to be treated decently. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/183 "2018-02-21T01:37:53Z")
A stupid +1, but if it was also a male-dominated world, then guys would also have their own version of a sweet 16th Just sayin������ ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/184 "2018-02-21T01:38:56Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …I made zero comment on it. I told you I hadn’t clicked it. I suggested that you don’t debate by proxy. I said nothing about “privilege” or “dominance” or whatever else it was you said to me. I suggest you go read what I wrote again. > > I don’t actually think you know what you mean when you say “male-dominated country.” How about we start by defining your terms. When you say “male dominated” what exactly is it that you mean? I mean women don’t even have personal autonomy over there so yeah I am pretty sure is as male-dominated as they come. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/185 "2018-02-21T02:47:06Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > I mean women don’t even have personal autonomy over there so yeah I am pretty sure is as male-dominated as they come. …can you at least make an effort to answer the question as asked? You didn’t answer my question. [You have demonstrated that you are perfectly capable of understanding complex ideas and can give thoughtful, extensive, completely legibile answers](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20801281&postcount=215). But for some reason you are unable to do that in this thread. So if you are capable of arguing that your contention “is that they are the ONLY obstacles to changing gun laws, and that there is nothing sacred or immutable about them”, then defining what you mean by “a male dominated world” should not be a question that should be difficult for you to answer. So how are you defining a “male dominated world”? ---
**Author:** ![Casparlatete](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/casparlatete/32/3377_2.png) [@Casparlatete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casparlatete)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/186 "2018-02-24T22:02:48Z")
The US fortunately narrowly avoided having a woman president and should be grateful - and how! Women politicians meanwhile are destroying Europe, Germany’s chancellor Merkel has been a disaster allowing over a million Muslim immigrant men in to the country, few of whom are real refugees but are in reality economic migrants, a lot having the ambition to destroy the identity of Europe which has already happened in Sweden courtesy of a predominantly female government and judiciary, and still they cry out for more power and preferential treatment. Time to wake up guys. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/187 "2018-02-24T22:26:11Z")
> [@Casparlatete](#): > > The US fortunately narrowly avoided having a woman president and should be grateful - and how! Women politicians meanwhile are destroying Europe, Germany’s chancellor Merkel has been a disaster allowing over a million Muslim immigrant men in to the country, few of whom are real refugees but are in reality economic migrants, a lot having the ambition to destroy the identity of Europe which has already happened in Sweden courtesy of a predominantly female government and judiciary, > and still they cry out for more power and preferential treatment. Time to wake up guys. Oh, for the love of all things holy. :rolleyes: Let me just add once again :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/188 "2018-02-25T12:26:33Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > A stupid +1, but if it was also a male-dominated world, then guys would also have their own version of a sweet 16th > Just sayin�� Luciano, with all due respect, this argument barely qualifies as scraping the bottom of the barrel. You do realize that boys can have a special 16th birthday party, right? Or any other birthday, for that matter? And you do realize that not all girls get a special 16th birthday party, right? In fact, to the best of my knowledge not a single woman in my life had a sweet 16th party. It’s not a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Casparlatete](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/casparlatete/32/3377_2.png) [@Casparlatete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casparlatete)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/189 "2018-02-25T12:28:54Z")
^^^ The reply came as a resounding … non sequitur! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/190 "2018-02-25T13:04:18Z")
Patriarchy deniers are of the same ilk as holocaust deniers. And I had a sweet 16 party, thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/191 "2018-02-25T13:21:56Z")
> [@Casparlatete](#): > > ^^^ The reply came as a resounding … non sequitur! Indeed it did. What compelled you to make it? ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/192 "2018-02-25T17:08:33Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …can you at least make an effort to answer the question as asked? > > You didn’t answer my question. > > [You have demonstrated that you are perfectly capable of understanding complex ideas and can give thoughtful, extensive, completely legibile answers](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20801281&postcount=215). But for some reason you are unable to do that in this thread. > > So if you are capable of arguing that your contention “is that they are the ONLY obstacles to changing gun laws, and that there is nothing sacred or immutable about them”, then defining what you mean by “a male dominated world” should not be a question that should be difficult for you to answer. > > So how are you defining a “male dominated world”? Well I mean we can go all hours and hours of semantics. But yeah I truly think the Middle East is as much of a patriarchy as they come. Women can’t even have medical procedures on their own. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/193 "2018-02-25T18:37:40Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > Well I mean we can go all hours and hours of semantics. > > But yeah I truly think the Middle East is as much of a patriarchy as they come. Women can’t even have medical procedures on their own. You still aren’t answering the question, other than to say that you think that the Middle East is a patriarchy. You’ve been asked to define your terms, which doesn’t need to take hours and hours. It does require more than, “but yeah”. What specifically defines a male-dominated society or world? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/194 "2018-02-25T20:06:54Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > Well I mean we can go all hours and hours of semantics. …I’m not asking you to go for “hours and hours.” I’m expecting you to take five minutes to craft something that we can debate. > [@](#): > > But yeah I truly think the Middle East is as much of a patriarchy as they come. Women can’t even have medical procedures on their own. Still not answering my question. ---
**Author:** ![AI\_Proofreader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@AI\_Proofreader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AI_Proofreader)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/195 "2018-02-25T22:22:01Z")
> [@Casparlatete](#): > > The US fortunately narrowly avoided having a woman president and should be grateful - and how! Women politicians meanwhile are destroying Europe, Germany’s chancellor Merkel has been a disaster allowing over a million Muslim immigrant men in to the country, few of whom are real refugees but are in reality economic migrants, a lot having the ambition to destroy the identity of Europe which has already happened in Sweden courtesy of a predominantly female government and judiciary, > and still they cry out for more power and preferential treatment. Time to wake up guys. MAGA - Make Authoritarian Germany Again… What could go wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/196 "2018-02-25T22:28:22Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …I’m not asking you to go for “hours and hours.” I’m expecting you to take five minutes to craft something that we can debate. > > Still not answering my question. Alright then to me a male dominated world would include More attention towards men, more men in advertising, fathers would be the more dominant parents, men’s health would be more promoted, etc etc Are those good examples? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/197 "2018-02-26T00:28:23Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > More attention towards men, …so in western society don’t we pay more attention to men? Don’t they get paid more money? Don’t they star in and direct more movies? Aren’t men overwhelmingly in positions of political power? By this metric alone society in the US would appear to be “male dominated” using your terms of reference. > [@](#): > > more men in advertising, [Only 11% Creative Directors are female.](https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2016/feb/03/how-advertising-industry-fails-women) Women make 85% of purchasing decisions, so it is no surprise that marketing targets the female demographic. But there is **no shortage of men making decisions on what happens in advertising.** Men decide its best to have less men on screen or in print. Men decide what we see in advertising, not women. Men have the power. > [@](#): > > fathers would be the more dominant parents, You have to be much more specific on what you mean here. Fathers are “less dominant?” How so? What metric are you using to make this determination? > [@](#): > > men’s health would be more promoted, etc etc “More” is a subjective measure. More promoted than what? Than women’s health? Bring some numbers into the discussion. > [@](#): > > Are those good examples? Not really. These are “talking points” not “points to debate”: we can’t meaningfully discuss them unless you make an attempt to substantiate your claims. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/198 "2018-02-26T04:38:26Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > [Only 11% Creative Directors are female.](https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2016/feb/03/how-advertising-industry-fails-women) Women make 85% of purchasing decisions, so it is no surprise that marketing targets the female demographic. But there is **no shortage of men making decisions on what happens in advertising.** Men decide its best to have less men on screen or in print. Men decide what we see in advertising, not women. Men have the power. I don’t think this is as clear cut as “men have the power”. You say yourself that women make 85% of purchasing decisions. Advertisers have to cater to that. How many times have consumer boycotts forced changes in corporate policies. We’re currently seeing companies drop their associations with the National Rifle Association, presumably because they fear it will cost them customers. Consumerism is a form of power. > [@](#): > > > [@Luciano700](#): > > > > men’s health would be more promoted, etc etc > > “More” is a subjective measure. More promoted than what? Than women’s health? Bring some numbers into the discussion. Every year, the NFL, a $13-billion-a-year business, spends a month turning things pink for breast cancer awareness. Men’s cancer awareness is a bunch of guys growing mustaches. It’s not that I agree with the OP that’s it’s a female-dominated world, but I find there to be interesting examples on both sides that the other usually ignores. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/199 "2018-02-26T04:58:28Z")
Politically and governmentally does not = all the attention When I start seeing more male teenage drama films and male models, then remind me again about that Well the reasons dads are not also the dominant parents is because work and child-bearing reasons from women play a big role too. But with stay at home dads soon becoming the norm that’s all about to change anyways Is about as much of a female-dominated world as it is to males. Power is not source of dominance, while some of it may play a role, is not a big indicator of dominance. That’s like saying just because black dudes are seen as the best athletes right away they automatically dominate all sports lmao. Hell I could even use the case of homosexuality being more acceptable for women than men, particularly for white women. That’s not fair, men probably have more fear of sharing their gayness than women. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563/200 "2018-02-26T08:29:35Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I don’t think this is as clear cut as “men have the power”. …well this is Great Debates. And I’m debating the proposition that “more men in advertising” means…well I’m not entirely sure actually. So I’ve made my own debate. And to be quite frank, I actually do think it is that clear cut. > [@](#): > > You say yourself that women make 85% of purchasing decisions. Advertisers have to cater to that. Advertisers can choose who they cater for. Its an active decision, not a compulsory one. They choose to cater to the 85% of people who make purchasing decisions. > [@](#): > > How many times have consumer boycotts forced changes in corporate policies. Not very often actually. > [@](#): > > We’re currently seeing companies drop their associations with the National Rifle Association, presumably because they fear it will cost them customers. The consumer boycotts against the NRA have not been led by women, but by teenagers. So is it a teenage-dominated world? I strongly suspect that a lot of the companies that have dropped their associations with the NRA have been wanting to do this for a very very long time. But they didn’t do that prior to now because the NRA were very good at painting anybody who “went against them” as the bad guy. This current situation gave them the perfect opportunity to drop their association without the backlash they may once have gotten. So it had less to do with “a consumer backlash” and more to do with “now is the right time to sever the relationship.” But YMMV. > [@](#): > > Consumerism is a form of power. Occasionally a boycott or direct consumer action gets direct results. But it doesn’t happen often enough (in a scalable, duplicatable fashion) to really compare it to the power of a creative executive to hire a female actress. > [@](#): > > Every year, the NFL, a $13-billion-a-year business, spends a month turning things pink for breast cancer awareness. Men’s cancer awareness is a bunch of guys growing mustaches. Hyperbole doesn’t help your point. Millions of dollars are spent on men’s cancer awareness. In my tiny country the government spent 4.3 million dollars (in 2013 over four years) on prostate cancer awareness. That’s more than a “bunch of guys growing mustaches.” It isn’t a competition. > [@](#): > > It’s not that I agree with the OP that’s it’s a female-dominated world, but I find there to be interesting examples on both sides that the other usually ignores. Nothing is being “ignored.” You want more money spent on prostate cancer awareness? Then donate to a relevant charity. Or start your own charity. Lobby the government to increase funding. But if you think that prostate cancer awareness needs more money then make that case without saying that another “worthy cause” should have less money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-male-dominated-world-why-or-why-not/807563.md?page=11)