Unit 4B: I wish men would iron

Understanding The Differences Between Men And Women

For centuries, the differences between men and women were socially defined and distorted through a lens of sexism domination. The goal of equality in which men assumed superiority over women and maintained it through between men and women are now growing closer, but we are also losing our awareness of important differences.

I think men and women are equal but different at the same time. I mean that men and women have a right to equal opportunity and protection under the law.

I suppose you will agree with me when I say that men and women are physically different.

Men are essentially built for physical confrontation and the use of force, that's obvious. Women, on the other hand. have four times as many brain cells (neurons) connecting the right and left side of their brain.

Some of these differences can be shown very clearly in some aspect of life, like the following ones.

1. Relationships between men and women are not impossible or necessarily difficult. Problems simply arise when we expect or assume the opposite sex should think, feel or act the way we do. It’s not that men and women live in completely different realities. It's just our lack of knowledge and mutual experience which gives rise to our difficulties.

2. Using the telephone

Men see the telephone as a communications tool. They use the telephone to send short messages to other people. A woman can visit her girlfriend for two weeks, and upon returning home, she will call the same friend and they will talk for three hours.

3. Human relationships.

Women tend to communicate more effectively than men, focusing on how to create a solution that works for the group, talking through issues, and utilizes non-verbal cues such as tone, emotion, and empathy whereas men tend to be more task-oriented, less talkative, and more isolated. Men have a more difficult time understanding emotions that are not explicitly verbalized, while women tend to intuit emotions and emotional cues. These differences explain why men and women sometimes have difficulty communicating and why men-to-men friendships look different from friendships among women.

4. Cars

When someone has bought a new car, women usually ask what colour it is - men ask what sort is it

5. The way of talking

Men speak in sentences. Women speak in paragraphs.

6. When men want something they ask for it. When women want something they make a point distantly related to the subject and wait for a response.

7. Men cannot watch sports and talk to their wives at the same time.

8. Feelings

Women excel at knowing what people are feeling; men have difficulty spotting an emotion unless someone cries or threatens bodily harm.

Scientist say that a few fundamental differences between men ans women are biological. Men's and women's brains, for example, are not only different (the male brain is roughly 9% larger than the female variety) but the way we use them differs too. Although they both contain the same number of cells, it's just that in the female brain they are more tightly packed. Women have larger connections and more frequent interaction between their brain's left and right hemispheres. This accounts for women's ability to have better verbal skills and intuition. Men, on the other hand, have greater brain hemisphere separation, which explains their skills for abstract reasoning and visual-spatial inelligence.

"Okay, I understand the problem" you may say to yourself, but - "what's the solution?" That depends on whether you are a woman or a man.

What's your opinion about this controversial topic? Express yourself openly here. These are some of your classmates' opinions.

I think men and women have to share all the housework. Women can't be the only responsible one for it. However every case is different and if in a couple the man works and the woman doesn't, it is not fair that the man has to do the 50% of the housework. But it doesn't mean that a man can't help his partner doing some things. And I also think it should happen the same in the opposite case. If a woman works, she can't do all the housework after work. Then her partner should do the washing at least. In conclusion the most important thing is that both partners should do their share as far as possible. Marian Arabí.

In my opinion, men should do 50% of the housework. Nowadays if men live with female partners and both of them work, men should do their share of the housework. However, I think if only one of them works, the other one should do more.
But, I think it all depends on the couple's labour situation, the kind of job they have and how they were brought up by their parents. A.A.

Well, in my opinion we shouldn't talk about the right percentage of men and women doing the housework. It would be better to do a deal with your partner. On the other hand, at home parents should have a commitment with children to do their share. Nowadays society is mature enough to promote housework in a different way.
Women didn't use to work outside home, but nowadays they do, and most of them are even the breadwinners. In that case, men should do more than 50% of housework. Lina Torres

In my opinion men should definitely do 50% of the housework. They should do their share as women do.The times have changed and nowadays most women work out of home, so men should work at home too.
In conclusion, if a person, regardless of whether it's a man or a woman, messes up, obviously they should be able to clean and tidy up too. The difference lies in the willingness to do it, most men don't have it. V.C.

I absolutely agree with the 50% of men doing the housework.In the past women were used to staying at home taking care of children and doing all the housework while their husbands were the breadwinners. Nowadays this role has been totally changed by our society. The so-called "new women" work out as long as their partners, so that´s why we should have equal rights and share the household stuff and children care. Vicky Contreras

As times are changing I think men should do their share at home and look after the children as well as their partners. As life is getting more competitive, women have to work outside too, so men should be more cooperative, showing their femenine side and helping at home a bit more. What I really want to mean is that nowadays men should be more domesticated.
The role so-called "new man" is more adecuated for the modern life, so for me, it's essencial that men forget the macho attitude of "bread winner" that used to be so common in the past. Martin Candiotti.

I mainly think men and women should be happy and free in this life. When a man and a woman live as a couple (and currently two men or two women, why not?), they have all the right to organize their private life as they wish. Men have been suffering a real feminist dictatorship for a long time: we must do, say and think what feminists want, and I totally disagree. What men and women should do is not what they are told to do but what they think it's the right thing for them. A.G

In my opinion, the housework should be shared by both men and women, but it wouldn't always have to be done at 50%. Nowadays many women and men work outside, and in general they don´t work the same number of hours. So, from my point of view, the more free time you have, the more housework you would have to do, no matter if you are a man or a woman. But we shouldn't forget that it should be always shared by both partners. As nobody works 24 hours per day, everybody has some free time to do it, and nobody enjoys doing the housework. JC.M.

In my opinion, men should do part of the housework but the amount depens on the couple's believes and their working conditions.For example, if both work outside, I think, the housework should be 50% for each one (in fact it isn't) The less time one works outside, the more housework this one should do. But personally I think that it is very important to reach an agreement about this with your partner, and that everyone should do what they like most. D.R.

Just for fun, watch these two videos about some of the communicative differences between men and women.

Here you have some listening comprehension activities with multiple choice questions related to this topic.

Listening 1 (people's roles in Ski Larka)

Listening 2 (people's roles in Estonia)

Listening 3 (a woman's life)

.

Exam tips: how to describe a picture

Let's improve our speaking skills

Describing a picture can be something difficult if you don't have a model to follow.

Here I'm including some different pictures with a good description of them. You may find this very useful for the final exam. Click on the links and follow the instruction you will see on the webpage.

1. The river
2. New baby
3. New arrivals
4. Hospital visit
5. Barbecue1
6. Barbecue2
7. Fishing trophy
8. Waiting
9. At the airport
10.Red card
11.Astronauts
12.Medical drama
13.Visitors



Let's put into practice what you have learnt. Look at the following picture. Please use adjectives to describe it.
Think about the following questions: what do the men look like? what are they wearing? where are they standing?
Use your imagination and write something on the comment seccion.

If you want to see what other people said about this picture, click here

.