Gender Mix

Because people tend not to be able to do everything and achieve their objectives, all the time, always correctly, by themselves, they form teams. These teams will always have some tasks to do. Some tasks are hard labour, building something tangible, actually producing something. Other tasks are soft, like fostering a productive atmosphere, being a cheerleader and motivator, or just making sure all the conditions are correct for performing at peak conditions. Some tasks are directly related to the objective of the team, like scoring goals for a football team. Others have indirect influence on the outcome, for example a team doctor treating injuries.

For me each team has tasks that are better fulfilled by male roles, and those by female roles. Ideally male roles in the teams are responsible for male tasks, and female roles for female tasks. The number and intensity of tasks for each team varies, but they are better served if those tasks are matched to its appropriate gender.

I argue that all teams have both male and female tasks to fulfill to achieve their objectives. I argue successful teams have the right team member gender mix, and each member is doing their appropriate tasks as well. I posit that unsuccessful teams have not matched their team make-up: so male roles performing female tasks and vice versa, or nobody picking up tasks, because the role cannot be fulfilled correctly.

I do see that while in far and away the most cases men should be filling male roles, and women female roles, it is not necessarily always the case. If a woman is the best person suited to fulfill a particular male role in a particular team, then she should do it. Obviously all teams should have roles to cover all tasks necessary to achieve the desired outcomes.

Ideally I still would see some mix expressed in a men to women ratio, rather than male to female (which is harder to quantify - and would only apply to specific gender-biased situations anyway, e.g. sports teams, fraternities and sororities, religious groups). Probably along the lines of one woman for every four people in a team. If the ratio goes to more women, cliques will form that hurt productivity. If the ratio goes to less women, then there's likely not enough people to fulfill the female roles.

So what do you think is the ideal team ratio in your line of work?