Darren had a post praising the idea of Single-Gender Groups. I find that very problematic, and here’s why.
Darren’s main point is that women and men communicate differently. Personally I’ve found more differences in communication style in different countries; I’ve lived in (in chronological order, and only counting places I’ve lived in for more than five years and where I’ve spoken the local language fluently) New Zealand, Australia, Germany, and Canada. For example, Germans in my experience are relatively direct, both men and women. Canadians often aren’t. Australians are often also direct, New Zealanders often aren’t. I tend to be more direct than lots of people, which caused a certain number of problems for me when I was growing up.
One other reason I have problems with that attitude is due to the fact that I studied physics at university, and was often the only woman in the room. Obviously the few women studying related subjects often became friends, but most of my friends were men. Single-gender clubs would mean that I wouldn’t be able to take part in activities that the rest of my friends could take part in. Obviously sports clubs pose a set of issues that often result in the segregation of those taking part, but not for all sports and not necessarily for the social aspects of those clubs.
You could say the answer to that is having more women study physics or maths, but that’s the answer to a different question. My ideal is not that there are lots of single-gender groups and everyone finds them ok, but that both men and women can take part in groups where they find the intellectual stimulation or entertainment that they are looking for, not restricted by people’s expectations based on their gender, or indeed their name (another one of Darren’s posts). There are men who knit, you know, even if not very many.