Lady Geek

 

Rosie Boycott wrote an interesting piece on how women and men’s brains are wired differently, how she has changed her view from believing it was nurture rather than nature that determined a woman’s success and ultimately we are all born equal in line with Simone de Beauvoir.  Now, she concedes, after reading The Sexual Paradox by Susan Pinker, that the reason that most women in the their early 30s choose to opt out of the career game is that women are

“wired to resist the demands at the top of those fields.   Women care more about intrinsic rewards, more service orientated and are wired for empathy.”

Nature wins over nurture.  It is to do with the levels of oestrogen that women have, along with prolactin and oxytocin which surges in pregrancy, breastfeeding and mothering.   These produce a ‘natural high’ and tests have shown that female rats experience a greater rush of pleasure from being with their newborns than from cocaine!  As a new mum myself, I never for one moment dreamt that I could feel such intense and strength of emotion for another human being.  I found the whole experience completely overwhelming.

Women are looking for inherent meaning from work, as opposed to domination which is more what men look for.    Pinker asserts that we need to accept and honour differences amongst the sexes and not mark everyone according to the accepted standard of money, success and drive.

Brands must understand that women’s and men’s brains are wired differently and their buying behaviour and reasons for purchase are not the same as men.   Technology brands must respond to these differences rather than play lip service or fall into cliche land i.e pink it up and dumb it down.   A woman I spoke to today, echoing hundreds of women, told me how the fear of not wanting to feel stupid was what prevented her from enjoying and experimenting with technology.  So much of the fear that women have when it comes from technology is from being self-conscious and not wanting to get ‘that look’ which involves eyeballs rolling from a 19 year old at PC world.  Whether the reality of the experience is actually like that is irrelevant, that is how women feel about technology and tech brands must realise this and put changes in place to make women feel comfortable about buying technology.