Imagine a world where women and men share equal control over businesses and business practices. Would this world be different from our own? Would women still predominately manage the household and children? How would the workplace be different? How would the economy be different?

When our Minister for women and leader of the house of commons was deputizing for the PM she suggested that Lehman Sisters might have fared better than Lehman Brothers saying:“There is research evidence that women are more risk averse and more worried about household finances. This speech plus her comments on the role of women in the boardroom was courageous and much needed however it earned her spectacular abuse from many of the male "conservative" columnists despite the growing evidence that she her opinion is backed by research. This is in the UK where we are supposed to have equal opportunities yet there are only 4 female CEO's in the FTSE 100! This exhibition and conversation is much needed even in countries where women are believed to have it all!

I once wrote a paper on the very issue that Joanna addresses. If you follow a trail of psychological studies and simple workforce demographic facts you can arrive at some interesting conclusions about men and the economic crisis.

It is commonly accepted by psychologists that men are greater risk takers than women. If you look a bit deeper, it turns out men are even bigger risk takers in situations that they deem to be "masculine." One of these situations, it just so happens, is the management of money.

So, connecting the dots, men are great risk takers while managing money. The finance industry is extremely male-dominated, particularly in upper management. The most male-dominated field in all of the finance industry? Securities - the field that took on all that risk that led to the current economic crisis.

So, my conclusion? If women controlled the economy, we would not be in this mess at all.

In “Women Mean Business,” (http://www.imow.org/economica/stories/viewStory?storyId=3636) Irene Natividad argues in favor of investing in women to eventually give them equal power in the decision-making processes of the workplace, citing the proven fact that “increased earnings among women result in better healthcare and education for families and entire communities.”

There is a great deal of data that states that women invest a much larger portion of their income in their family than do men, particularly in many developing nations. So if women were in control, who knows what kind of improvements we'd see?

While it's tempting to believe that we can wish away all of our economic problems by replacing men with women in top positions, I think it's very dangerous to start saying that women are better at x or y. Just like men aren't all the same, neither are women. Instead of focusing on which gender is in charge, we should be looking at how a culture of greed and an emphasis on short-term profits over long-term sustainability has cost families and communities around the world their livelihoods, their homes and their future. We should focus on social justice, not some kind of comeuppance or fantasy scenario. As curator Masum Momaya's introduction to Economica reminds us, what matters is not who's in charge, but that our policies, practices, and institutions work to benefit everyone, not just a chosen few - whether they be men or women.

I think if women will handle the economy it will greatly be in a moody situation. Just likethem but they are strong.

regards,
erica
http://simulationpretimmobilier.net/simulation-pret-immobilier/simulation-pret

Just commented on first Vision article in Economica. Women must be part of both micro and macro solutions.

"Thank You Masum Momaya for the vision behind this economica series and your article. We as women not only need to engage ourselves in the cause of uplifting and empowering women socially, economically and political decision making, we need to work at the community and grassroots level to bring monetary literacy outside the box of institutional academia or government.

Also we need to be aware of the the huge transfer of resources and wealth towards wallstreet-war-military-intelligence-prison-bigmedia-bigpharma-thinktank-lobby complex away from the daily living and real needs of the women, children, homeless and unemployed.

We need to know the history of monetary thinking and evolution and ask fundamental questions about the nature of money or currency that makes the world go around. We need a correct diagnosis of the current financial meltdown which has been in making for a long time. We need to understand why 'money as a debt' paradigm is false and delusional and mathematically unsustainable and the many cumulatively dysfunctional delusional facets of it. I've been exploring some of them for last five years or more and it is fascinating. Look forward to reading more here and possibly contributing if I can make time.

http://conscious-capitalism.blogspot.com

Hi Susmita,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the economy and policy-making. If you haven't seen it yet, you might be interested in a new submission called The Barefoot Approach, by Sumithra Prasanna. She describes how know-how and resources are brought to uneducated women and men at an innovative college. Take a look at it here: http://www.imow.org/economica/stories/viewStory?storyid=4525

One thing that a woman’s perspective has brought about in many countries is family-friendly working conditions. However, U.S. laws are failing many women and families on this. If women controlled the economy, there would be more workplace options for women who cared about both their personal success and spending time with their families.

A recent study shows that the U.S. lags behind most industrialized countries in family-friendly work practices. According to the study, done by researchers at Harvard and McGill Universities, U.S. law does not guarantee paid leave for new mothers, which is offered in 177 countries. U.S. citizens also do not enjoy guaranteed paid paternal leave, or leave in the case of a sick child. According to the lead author of the study, a workplace that makes childrearing easier does not suffer in its competitive edge. Indeed, in some cases it actually increases workplace productivity. To read more on this, go to: http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=12084.

The work exhibited in Economica shows that women can, and do, contribute to the economy in big ways. We now know that women can find a place in a previously male-dominated workforce, and succeed there. Now that they’re there, it’s time for them to change it for the better.

This just in! According to the New York Times, reporting on research by the World Economic Forum, Nordic countries are now world leaders in gender equality, which includes a large dose of family-friendly workplace policies. See the article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/business/global/28gender.html?_r=2&scp=10&sq=job%20gender&st=cse

Thanks for your posts! For further commentary on this, see Karenna Gore Schiff’s essay, America's Family Values? The Challenges of Being a Working Mother at http://www.imow.org/economica/stories/viewStory?storyId=3679.

Empowering a women through education is imperative. "If you educate a woman you educate a family, a nation."
Just by shifting the power from men to women and making women to run for politics or run a nation or control an economy does not necessarily achieve progress.
Education, awareness and basic human rights to every woman and man is imperative & this starts from the grassroots level.

Women and Men have their own strengths and neither can be eliminated in any society.

Take Wall Street for example, a field that still continues to be dominated by men. This is a topic that has been discussed on various blogs, press articles et al.

In fact many have questioned whether the Wall Street crash would have occurred if Women Had run Wall street. An article worth reading in this context.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62S3UT20100329

I think women have to be given equal rights as men and should not be discriminated based on gender.

A nation or economy will not make progress if they continue to favor men over women.

Wake Up! governments, organizations, politicians are not gonna help us. It is
up to the black woman to reclaim her nation and crown her kings, Her kings have


been attacked, they are sick and unable to fight for us. A nation will rise no
higher than its women! We as black women, life givers, the first teachers of
all men must unite, regardless off education, religious affiliation and views.


If not we will die.period. We are at war, we are being poisoned on every level
of human existence. We must unite together to save our nation by any means!!!!!


lets connect. email me now! momauwi32@yahoo.com

Hannah Rosin of The Atlantic wrote an intriguing article on this topic, earlier this year. Here is the link:

What are your thoughts after reading Rosin's well-supported research on the dominating presence of women in the middle-class economy? Do women make better leaders this day in age?

Secondly, if this is the case, how concerned should we be as a society (women and men), in responding to the student gender gap that Rosin discusses? Food for thought.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/1/