Men and Women Are Different - Duh!

Posted on | March 26, 2009 |

by Delia Passi

For millions of years, men and women have been labeled, identified, assigned tasks, appreciated, accepted and often underestimated for their gender. A second is all it took for the brain to identify the opposite sex, and it accepted the opposite sex for the qualities they contributed to the survival of the species. Men saved lives. Women populated the tribe. Women depended on men for survival. Men depended on women to nurture. Fast forward and women no longer need men for survival, but that does not negate the fact that men and women are still very different.

So why do we continue to challenge this fact? A company called NeuroFocus is being engaged by Fortune 500 companies to substantiate what we know instinctively, that there are fundamental differences between men and women? They report that 90% of their studies show clear-cut differences between the genders. I think it has been clear since the dawn of civilization and hasn’t needed a lot of neuroscience to prove the obvious.

I think part of what happened is that society did such a great job in the 60s and 70s changing the perception of women as the equal of men that we confused ourselves into thinking that men and women are alike. These are not the same concepts. Ask any ten year old boy or girl if there is a difference, and they are unlikely to be influenced by political correctness and tell you all about them.

Let’s focus on adjusting our messages and behaviors to drive sales and brand loyalty.

Smart marketers have a new motto: Vive la difference!

Delia Passi, Founder of WomenCertified® and author of Winning the Toughest Customer: The Essential Guide to Selling to Women is a regular columnist on ReachingWomenDaily. Delia can be reached at delia@medelia.com.