The Paula Principle

Korea

Women After All

Melvin Konner has written a highly original book, with an unusual message.  It pursues a similar theme to the Paula Principle, but much more broadly and with a completely different level of expertise. The subtitle of Women After All  is 'sex, evolution and the end of male supremacy'.  Konner predicts - and advocates - the future supremacy of women.  He opens with a quite striking proposition: This is a book with a very simple argument: women are not equal to men; they are superior in many ways, and in most ways that will count in the future.  It is not just a matter of culture of upbringing, although both play their…
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Asia: where the PP applies most strongly?

The Economist recently ran a long piece on 'Holding back half the nation:  Japanese women and work'.  It chronicled the challenge facing Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, as he seeks to change the position of Japanese women in the economy.  Japanese women are amongst the best-educated in the world, but 70% of women who have children stop working for a decade or more, and many never come back.   The  economic participation rate  for women is just 63%.  Fertility is, predictably, low. Japan and Korea are probably the most powerful examples  of the PP at work, with exceptionally well-qualified women almost all of whom have poor career prospects.   Mr Abe…
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Korea: a case study

Korea's first female president, Park Geun-hye, takes up office today.  This is a big step forward for the country, and for the wider political scene.   I've never been to Korea, but I've been thinking of using it as a case study for the Paula Principle, for the folllowing reasons. Koreans have made extraordinarily rapid educational progress over the past two decades.   15-20 years ago they were near the foot of the OECD league table on achievement at secondary school;  now they are at or around the top. It is a truly remarkable transformation. Their tertiary system has expanded in consequence, very rapidly, so that there are now large numbers of…
Read More

Women After All

Melvin Konner has written a highly original book, with an unusual message.  It pursues a similar theme to the Paula Principle, but much more broadly and with a completely different level of expertise. The subtitle of Women After All  is 'sex, evolution and the end of male supremacy'.  Konner predicts - and advocates - the future supremacy of women.  He opens with a quite striking proposition: This is a book with a very simple argument: women are not equal to men; they are superior in many ways, and in most ways that will count in the future.  It is not just a matter of culture of upbringing, although both play their…
Read More

Asia: where the PP applies most strongly?

The Economist recently ran a long piece on 'Holding back half the nation:  Japanese women and work'.  It chronicled the challenge facing Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, as he seeks to change the position of Japanese women in the economy.  Japanese women are amongst the best-educated in the world, but 70% of women who have children stop working for a decade or more, and many never come back.   The  economic participation rate  for women is just 63%.  Fertility is, predictably, low. Japan and Korea are probably the most powerful examples  of the PP at work, with exceptionally well-qualified women almost all of whom have poor career prospects.   Mr Abe…
Read More

Korea: a case study

Korea's first female president, Park Geun-hye, takes up office today.  This is a big step forward for the country, and for the wider political scene.   I've never been to Korea, but I've been thinking of using it as a case study for the Paula Principle, for the folllowing reasons. Koreans have made extraordinarily rapid educational progress over the past two decades.   15-20 years ago they were near the foot of the OECD league table on achievement at secondary school;  now they are at or around the top. It is a truly remarkable transformation. Their tertiary system has expanded in consequence, very rapidly, so that there are now large numbers of…
Read More

Women After All

Melvin Konner has written a highly original book, with an unusual message.  It pursues a similar theme to the Paula Principle, but much more broadly and with a completely different level of expertise. The subtitle of Women After All  is 'sex, evolution and the end of male supremacy'.  Konner predicts - and advocates - the future supremacy of women.  He opens with a quite striking proposition: This is a book with a very simple argument: women are not equal to men; they are superior in many ways, and in most ways that will count in the future.  It is not just a matter of culture of upbringing, although both play their…
Read More

Asia: where the PP applies most strongly?

The Economist recently ran a long piece on 'Holding back half the nation:  Japanese women and work'.  It chronicled the challenge facing Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, as he seeks to change the position of Japanese women in the economy.  Japanese women are amongst the best-educated in the world, but 70% of women who have children stop working for a decade or more, and many never come back.   The  economic participation rate  for women is just 63%.  Fertility is, predictably, low. Japan and Korea are probably the most powerful examples  of the PP at work, with exceptionally well-qualified women almost all of whom have poor career prospects.   Mr Abe…
Read More

Korea: a case study

Korea's first female president, Park Geun-hye, takes up office today.  This is a big step forward for the country, and for the wider political scene.   I've never been to Korea, but I've been thinking of using it as a case study for the Paula Principle, for the folllowing reasons. Koreans have made extraordinarily rapid educational progress over the past two decades.   15-20 years ago they were near the foot of the OECD league table on achievement at secondary school;  now they are at or around the top. It is a truly remarkable transformation. Their tertiary system has expanded in consequence, very rapidly, so that there are now large numbers of…
Read More