In response to Andrew Cadman: We are paying a high price for the feminisation of Britain, Damaris Tighe wrote:
There are some interesting comments questioning the author’s thesis here, but I have to say that as a woman I recognise a lot of his descriptions. I’ve sat in groups where women are the majority and my heart sinks because I know what they’ll be like every single time: cloyingly ‘nice’; averse to any risk that might make them feel uncomfortable, like plain speaking which is equated with aggression; a preference for inclusion over clear boundaries; and yet a willingness to hunt as a pack against any group member who violates these values, which nowadays is replicated by Twitter storms. Above all, there is a complete lack of energy compared with male dominated groups. It’s as if the knitting circle has been translated into management and politics.
Clearly, many women aren’t like this at all but in the days when only highly motivated women such as Margaret Thatcher moved in a man’s world, they tended to be the type who exhibited more masculine values. When government policy moved large numbers of ‘ordinary’ women into the public space they stamped it with their personality traits.
