Monday, February 23, 2015

Men vs Women as party guests

Before I start writing the blogpost, I just want to send out the disclaimer that I am not a big fan of the Sheryl Sandberg school of Lean-In feminism. I do believe that women don't need to start behaving like men to make a mark for themselves. Or may be they do. May be all SS says is that IF you want to break the glass ceiling, watch out for these things that might be keeping you from attaining your goals. No matter, what the suggestion course of action for women is, I do believe that there is a marked difference in the way men and women perceive the world around them. No I am going in the broad sweeping generalization territory but men seem to come from a position of entitlement in most situations.

Now, coming back to the real point. I recently had a party and invited a bunch of my friends- men and women. It was a pretty homogeneous mix of MBA graduates working for big firms in their late twenties or early thirties. Most of them had were related to me by a shared workplace or grad school. So, I send out this invite announcing that I will be cooking. I heard from most women I invited asking whether I need any help from them. I heard from very few men and the only thing they asked about was whether I will have the live streaming for India vs South Africa world cup cricket match. You see the difference. Women felt grateful that someone was going to spend a day preparing for a party for them. Men took it as a given and wanted to know if they can enjoy the match or not. I do understand that men are more ardent fans of sports. But these guys didn't suggest the TV streaming as a solution they can help with. They didn't ask whether I would have a TV that accepted HDMI inputs. They just wanted to know if they can watch their match or why else would they waste their time. I know I am being a little harsh here but if you boil the reality to bare bones, harsh is what it sounds like.