Gender and Risk-Taking

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Clarissa

May 14, 2013

But this post about a bit of the book got me thinking about career risk-taking and being male, and the things I’ve gotten away with in my career that a woman probably wouldn’t, or at least would likely be effectively trained out of doing both by culture and having more responsibilities.

Sorry, my friend, but no. My sister left a very well-paying position with a huge company and refused another very well-paying position with another huge company and started a business of her own completely out of nothing. She had zero savings, an infant, and a partner in company that was about to go broke and lay everybody off. And the business has become a huge success since then.

This is only a gender issue to the extent that many women don’t feel the need to take risks because there are male partners to take the risks for them. There is no greater career killer than having a parent, a spouse, a trust fund, or a rich uncle about to kick the bucket as a financial cushion. And there is no greater career maker than having nothing and nobody standing between you and indigence.

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13 responses to “Gender and Risk-Taking”

Jennifer Frances Armstrong

May 14, 2013

The idea that women don’t take risks is odd. What is life without risks? I can’t imagine it would be life at all.

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kelly

May 14, 2013

Life is an equal opportunity teacher and does not know about gender. Here is an example:
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/13/182640887/after-leaving-senate-snowe-is-still-fighting-for-common-ground

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David Bellamy

May 14, 2013

I am not sure about this. Many people I know who do not have any support choose to take a low risk, low paying job so they will not starve. Others feel free to try risky things because they know they will have money to fall back on if they lose everything.

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anerdyfeminist

May 14, 2013

I didn’t even know that guy had linked that post of mine…

FWIW I just found personal inspiration in that section of “Lean In” because of what I’m dealing w/ professionally and my personal tendency to not believe in myself. Overall, I was kind of disappointed w/ the book and haven’t followed up w/ a full review because so many people have already said what I would say about it.

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1. Mike
  
  May 15, 2013
  
  Your blog is a favorite of mine.
  
  My point was that many women in my personal experience have not taken more risky jobs as they didn’t want to endanger health insurance, etc. I have no idea if this occurs among men in equal or greater degree, but women often have more societal responsibilities as far as child care and “husband care” for lack of a better term.
  
  I worked at a risky (non-tech) startup and there was I believe one woman on staff, and almost no women applied (hard to hire someone who doesn’t apply!)
  
  Anecdote is not data and all that, though enough anecdotes do turn into data.
  
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  1. bloggerclarissa
    
    May 15, 2013
    
    “I have no idea if this occurs among men in equal or greater degree, but women often have more societal responsibilities as far as child care and “husband care” for lack of a better term.”
    
    – You mean more wives provide healthcare for husbands than vice versa? I’m not sure how that is possible given that almost 40% of adult women in this country don’t work at all.
    
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  2. anerdyfeminist
    
    May 15, 2013
    
    Thanks! I was surprised for this to show up here because your linking me didn’t show up in my analytics.
    
    I feel like women are less likely to take risks on average because we are taught to doubt ourselves, not rock the boat, all that. Not all of us of course, but I certainly saw it in the upbringing of my peers.
    
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David Gendron

May 14, 2013

“There is no greater career killer than having a parent, a spouse, a trust fund, or a rich uncle about to kick the bucket as a financial cushion.”

Agree.

“And there is no greater career maker than having nothing and nobody standing between you and indigence.”

It can be the case, but it’s not for all.

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musteryou

May 14, 2013

One of the places I visited for a long time in Zimbabwe, is Mutare, There is a diamond mine near there, that the locals one time plundered. My friend told me he had gone to visit his aunt (or gone to seek his fortune?) up that way, and anyone without ID was made to lie down in a field overnight, and be beaten. He was put into jail the next day but paid the small fine and got out. Those who had been caught red-handed stealing from the mine were shot in the back.

What’s more interesting is that many of Mutare’s kingpins were said to have got the capital to start their businesses from diamonds. Most started minivan transport businesses, but one guy started an Internet cafe. The rumor was he had killed someone to take their diamond, to start the cafe.

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Mike

May 15, 2013

I can’t seem to reply to your comment, but by “husband care” I was referring to the fact that women — even women who work full-time — do more housework and child care than their husbands. All statistics show this pretty unequivocally.

Labor force participation rate for men is about 70%. About 60% for women.

“In the US, the difference in total time worked is significant but not enormous: On average, women put in 21 minutes a day more at work and at home than men do (which, coincidentally, is also the average for all OECD countries surveyed). The real difference is between paid and unpaid work — what you might call the “chore gap.” American men put in about 5 hours a day on the job; women put in four. But women make up the difference and then some at home, putting in a little over 4 hours on housework and childcare, compared to only 2.7 hours for men. The work of raising children still falls overwhelmingly to mothers, not fathers.

“http://business.time.com/2012/12/21/closing-the-chore-gap/#ixzz2TN85oG2x”

I think Nerdy Feminist and others were reading things into my post that weren’t actually there, for some reason.

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1. Mike
  
  May 15, 2013
  
  Sorry for the weirdly formatted comment, am at work and was rushing. 🙂
  
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Z

May 15, 2013

I think the big career killer is the idea that you will fail, should not take risks because you are barely making it anyway. In other words: the big risk is trying at all; you have done that so you must now be very conservative if you wish to survive. This in my experience is what holds a lot of women back. It’s where I resonate with the Nerdy Feminist about Lean In.

I’ve also noticed at work that women can afford fewer errors than men can, are forgiven less.

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1. musteryou
  
  May 15, 2013
  
  Our premier called a woman in opposition, “sweetie”, yesterday.
  
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