# Why men are more successful than women in business **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 24, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825 "2004-05-24T16:55:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/21 "2004-05-24T20:01:27Z")
> [@JuanitaTech](#): > > Incidently, in what forum did this thread originally appear? It was originally in MPSIMS, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/22 "2004-05-24T20:12:33Z")
**msmith537** , how about you send this to your mother and/or your girlfriend, and then report back with their reactions, okay? :wally ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/23 "2004-05-24T21:07:49Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > msmith537 - Was this meant for the Pit. No. It was not meant to be taken seriously. I assumed MPSIMS was the correct forum since it was a pointless, humorous observation, not an angry rant. > [@Phlosphr](#): > > My wife is very high up the corporate ladder in the publishing world. I’m not sure your information is accurate. Or your assertions. Congratulations! And good for you that you don’t feel like your masculinity is threatened! 😃 > [@Phlosphr](#): > > Ok, I re-read your OP. I feel for you…I really do, especially when some of the more outspoken women on the boards read this. Meh…what are they going to do? Type loudly at me? > [@Miabella](#): > > Wow, you must be fun to work with! I am…because I take offense at everything and have no sense of humor. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go pat a coworkers ass. > [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > So, msmith537 have you always been this mysoginistic, or is a new thing you’re trying out? Where did a pretty thing like you learn a big word like ‘mysoginistic’? > [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Come on people! This was an obvious joke! It’s so freaking sad when people don’t realize it after the first freaking sentance! Congratulations on being the first poster without a stick or their head up their ass. I would have assumed that some of the “great minds” on this board would have recognized it as a joke and treated it appropriately. > [@Khadaji](#): > > I thought this was meant as a joke. Sorta like “Why dogs are better than men.” I have laughed at those being a man, and I thought that one or two of these were amusing, though I’m not a woman. > [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Oh, don’t mind the OP. Our resident troglodyte from ca. 1955 is at it again. Do his comments surprise any of us the least bit? > > msmith57, are you serious? Hey why don’t you relax? And no I’m not serious. > [@LilyoftheValley](#): > > Based on the fact that **Cajun Man** moved this to the Pit, I’m guessing it’s not a joke?! You guess incorrectly. > [@AmericanMaid](#): > > Apparently, Mr. Smith needs an education: > > Here’s your first assignment: > > 1. Read the following > 2. Get a crowbar to get your head out of your ass. > > [http://www3.babson.edu/CWL/features...trepreneurs.cfm](http://www3.babson.edu/CWL/features...trepreneurs.cfm) > > [http://www3.babson.edu/CWL/features/research.cfm](http://www3.babson.edu/CWL/features/research.cfm) Funny story related to your links… ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/24 "2004-05-24T21:34:43Z")
Hilarious! Man, I can barely type from laughing so hard. I can’t wait for the follow-up: “Why the Negro is Inferior to the White Man”. (Try to work in some references to how it’s hard to hold a meeting when you’re busy eating watermelon.) ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/25 "2004-05-24T21:35:17Z")
This was no more or less funny than a t-shirt that says something like ‘Boys are stupid. Throw rocks at them.’ ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/26 "2004-05-24T21:59:48Z")
> [@](#): > > _ **Originally posted by msmith537** _ > No. It was not meant to be taken seriously. I assumed MPSIMS was the correct forum since it was a pointless, humorous observation, not an angry rant. Humorous observation huh? You’ve got a lot ot learn young grass hopper. [or old grass hopper as it may be] This was not a humorous post. ---
**Author:** ![Tiggrkitty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tiggrkitty/32/17966_2.png) [@Tiggrkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiggrkitty)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/27 "2004-05-24T22:05:51Z")
I actually found this humorous. > [@msmith537](#): > > -The idea of a ‘career’ sounds nice until they realize that most work actually sucks Like raising a family is easy? I actually chose a career to avoid the work. > [@msmith537](#): > > -You usually cannot get a raise by withholding sex. Damn! You mean if I had put out all these years I would have gotten a raise?!?! > [@msmith537](#): > > -An MRS is easier to obtain than an MBA. Perhaps. But getting rid of the ex is much harder than getting the MBA. > [@msmith537](#): > > -A woman who sits around the house all day watching TV is a ‘housewife’, a man who does the same is ‘lazy’ and ‘shiftless’. Surprised you didn’t say neurotic. I have stayed a week with my mom, who watches her “soapies”. My God, after a week of that, I was ready for the funny farm. > [@msmith537](#): > > -Most people would rather deal with an actual five-year old than a boss who just acts like one I would actually rather deal with my boss. As my spouse puts it “kids are the spawn of satan”, at least my boss has an excuse for being one. > [@msmith537](#): > > -Most office conflicts cannot be resolved by shoving a bottle (beer or baby) in the other party’s mouth ROFL. You don’t know the guys I work with then. Offer to buy them lunch, they roll over like puppies to have their tummies rubbed. Either that or unlease the terrible redhead temper and they cower in the corner. (I work in a mostly male dominated office) > [@msmith537](#): > > -No one ever put in an 80 hour week cleaning the house and cooking dinner Depends on the household and the family. I mean really, what are nannies or live in maids for? > [@msmith537](#): > > -Any feeling of purpose and self-fulfillment that one receives from earning money is usually offset by the crap you have to go through and put up with to earn it. Okay, you got me on this one. > [@msmith537](#): > > -Men can’t get themselves knocked up. Can we say tubal? I knew you could. (see career and “spawn of satan” reference above) > [@msmith537](#): > > -When you leave a job, you don’t get to keep half the company. I am really glad Texas does not have a “no fault” rule. 🙂 Thanks so much for the laugh. If you can’t have a sense of humor, what can you have? ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/28 "2004-05-24T22:10:26Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > No. It was not meant to be taken seriously. I assumed MPSIMS was the correct forum since it was a pointless, humorous observation, not an angry rant. After all your time on the SDMB you honestly thought everybody would say, “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, what a thigh slapper!” and proceed to swap men/women/blacks/ fat etc. people-are-stupid jokes? Cluelessness to the nth degree. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/29 "2004-05-24T22:30:36Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > After all your time on the SDMB you honestly thought everybody would say, “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, what a thigh slapper!” and proceed to swap men/women/blacks/ fat etc. people-are-stupid jokes? > Cluelessness to the nth degree. Yea, I learned long ago that if there’s a chance that a post is flamable its going to ignite. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/30 "2004-05-24T22:53:42Z")
Oh, but I am laughing. Really. Just, deep down, where you can’t see. Really, **msmith** , that degree I earned while working in a male-dominated field was probably easier to get than the one you earned, huh? I’m sure they took into account that, as an easily swayed woman who is a slave to societally imposed behaviours, I wouldn’t have the attention span to… Oh, look! Shiny!! ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/31 "2004-05-24T23:18:22Z")
All humour attempts aside, in any communication, it is the role of the person delivering the message to make sure the person receiving has understood what you were wanting to communicate. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/32 "2004-05-24T23:28:25Z")
The OP could be mistaken for irony if it came from certain Dopers. Unfortunately, anyone with much experience of **msmith** could easily be forgiven for thinking it was completely serious. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/33 "2004-05-24T23:29:25Z")
You know **msmith** , for someone who’s been on the boards as long as you, this was a really braindead move. Now, I realized it was a joke (mostly because I’ve gotten this chain email before, and even if I hadn’t, it absolutely _screams_ idiotic-fluffy-chain-email) and _still_ figured you for an absolute fool with a death wish. The first time I viewed it was when it had already found it’s way to the Pit and the only explanation I could think of was that you were pitting the email (I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt at this point). Of course then I just figured you for a moron for not explaining yourself. Honestly, it’s really not funny. And I’m all about the un-pc jokes. Perhaps it’s because women had to fight for the right to even exist in the workplace. Or the fact that they still earn less than the average male for the same job. Or the fact that many times, they’ve got to work twice as hard to move up the corporate ladder. Or maybe because of the countless other double standards imposed on professional women (ever notice how big of a deal balancing family and a career is for _women_, yet no one even thinks about the same difficulties a _man_ might face balancing a family _and_ a career…). It’s not about not having a sense of humor. It’s about having enough brains to recognize when a “joke” may be crossing a line. Women have enough problems surviving in the corporate world. “Jokes” like these aren’t helping the cause any. If this thread had been started in the Pit, I’d say it was a baby-step away from trolling. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/34 "2004-05-24T23:51:43Z")
You know, I finally figured out who **msmith** really is. He’s the asshole preppy kid in every '80s teen sex comedy ever made. I bet he even drives a sports car with an annoying personalized liscence plate and gets his jollies tormenting John Cusack. Which is why his posts don’t really bother me. We all know how his kind ends up. It usually involves him driving his fancy sports car into a truck load of horse manure or an open septic tank, while his girlfriend dumps him for someone with an actual personality. Trust me, it always works out like that. It’s fate. It’s karma. It’s the Tao of John Hughes. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/35 "2004-05-24T23:57:14Z")
RE: Men can’t get themselves knocked up. I have never known a woman who “got herself knocked up”; the process has always involved a man. I too can enjoy dark non-PC humor, but the O.P. just wasn’t funny. Funny has to involve something unexpected or clever, not just listing insulting stereotypes and insisting it was meant as a joke. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/36 "2004-05-25T00:03:46Z")
**lezlers** is spot on. The OP would be funny if sexism was a thing of the past and women and men had true parity in this society, but that’s not the case. If you tell a joke like this, you can’t expect everyone to just laugh along. You have to also expect reasonable people to be offended, or at least to question your intentions. Try the joke twenty years from now. The audience probably won’t be as tough. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/37 "2004-05-25T00:58:41Z")
I am more disturbed to find its a joke than I would be to find the OP was serious. I am offended by the incredibly poor quality of the humor more than I ever could be by the sentiments expressed. It sounds like something ripped out of the joke section of the April 9th 1983 copy of Penthouse. It certainly originated in chain email. Anyone who has been around long enough to write several thousand posts should have more respect than to foist a chain email on the boards as “humor”. Perhaps this is a signal that **msmith** should rest up until he has something of his own to post. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/38 "2004-05-25T01:34:16Z")
Kind of expect that anywhere jokes about men are accepted, jokes about women should be too. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/39 "2004-05-25T01:35:30Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > Kind of expect that anywhere jokes about men are accepted, jokes about women should be too. And your implication, I assume, is that the SDMB is such a place? Do you have a cite? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825/40 "2004-05-25T01:52:13Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > Kind of expect that anywhere jokes about men are accepted, jokes about women should be too. Who said they were acceptable? Seriously, those, “Boys are stupid” shirts ARE stupid and not funny. I would say that the SDMB usually is above that type of lame stand up comedian tripe. “Heee hee, women are selfish and care only about how fat they are, men are clueless morons who leave the toilet seat up…yuk yuk yuk…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-men-are-more-successful-than-women-in-business/246825.md?page=3)