Men, Women and Money

 In his wonderful book “Sapiens,” Yuval Noah Harari provides explanations for many of the questions about how human societies have evolved over the millennia. But one great mystery he leaves unsolved is why there is universally such a stark difference in the status of women and men.

He explores and rejects explanations based on the theories that men are stronger, or more aggressive, or smarter, or more competitive. Or that is it simply a matter that women the bear children. Women are supposedly more empathetic; if anything in a species that depends on social cooperation that alone should have resulted in their pre-eminence. 

But nothing, according to his analyses, can explain why men have always dominated and still dominate the social, political and economic power in virtually every known human culture in the world.

Or why they have more money.

In addition, historically men have dominated art, writing, music, architecture, sports, entertainment, religion and the academy as well. And just about every other field you can name.

I certainly am not able to answer the question as to why any better than Harari. It makes no sense to me.

But I do know that in our time, that the balance of power between the sexes is shifting, at least in some parts of the world. This is not happening fast enough or widely enough yet, but women are rising to the top of many fields and maybe — just maybe — that is cause for hope.

After all, centuries of patriarchy have gotten us into the current worldwide mess we face so perhaps the reign of male dominance is finally running its course.

But if the questions about the roots of the inequality of the sexes remain unresolved, Harari has no doubt about the role of money in human social development. Without the shared fiction of money there could be no modern civilization — virtually everything depends on it. We need money to be able to exchange any good or service for something else. And money itself doesn’t discriminate on the basis of one’s sex or gender. 

People do that.

Of course, beyond necessities, we don’t really need as much money as most of us have, but we convince ourselves we do, and the habits created by an abundance of money begin to feel like necessities over time. Living in one of the world’s richest regions, those of us in Silicon Valley are well-acquainted with the downsides of a world where a minority have more money than they know what to do with, while the majority have enough to get by, and a desperately poor underclass persists no matter what.

Though we may be making some progress on the issue of the equality of the sexes here and there, I’m not sure we’re making any progress on the obscene disparities of wealth anywhere on the planet. And nobody knows what to do about that.

TODAY’s HEADLINES:

• Hospitalizations skyrocket in kids too young for COVID shots (AP)

• Omicron and the Week America Is Calling In Sick (WSJ)

• Fate of Biden's vaccine mandates rests with justices (Politico)

• In omicron outbreak, US governors lose appetite for mandates (AP)

• India’s Covid cases double as Omicron threatens economic rebound (Financial Times)

• What I learned from my pandemic bookshelf (SFE)

• Arbery’s killers sentenced to life in prison, two with no chance of parole (WP)

• Ignoring Trump Didn’t Work. Biden Goes After ‘a Defeated Former President.’ (NYT)

• From Lindsay Graham to Ron DeSantis, Republicans blamed Democrats for politicizing Trump supporters' attack on the Capitol. The extremists Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene promised to retrace the steps of the rioters as if leading the faithful through the holy land. [HuffPost]

• White House, USPS finalizing plans to begin shipping coronavirus test kits to U.S. households (WP)

• The Capitol police officers who responded as a mob of Trump supporters pushed their way into the building on Jan. 6, 2021, are still living with the physical and emotional pain of what happened that day. Toughness doesn't allow for a free-flowing conversation. They note the irony that the radicalized insurrectionists storming the Capitol and Blue Lives Matter supporters are often the same people. “This didn’t just happen Jan. 6,” Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn said. “Jan. 6 just exposed a divide that this country has, and how do you fix that?” [HuffPost]

• ‘A Reflection of Where Our Party Is’: Republicans Avoid Jan. 6 Observances (NYT)

• Then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was inside the Democratic National Committee's headquarters on Jan. 6, 2021, when police discovered a pipe bomb outside the building. According to Politico, police and the Secret Service evacuated Harris from the DNC. The suspect who planted the bombs outside the DNC and Republican National Committee buildings has not been identified. [HuffPost]

• Ted Cruz told the truth about the 1/6 attack. Then he started backtracking. (CNN)

• Why a Law, Not Jail, Might Be the Best Way to Keep Trump Out of the Oval Office — Congress has the ability to bar Trump from running again. Even prosecutors can’t do that. (Politico)

• The anguish of Afghans in Sacramento — want to send money to relatives, but the banking system has all but collapsed. They want to fly family members out of Afghanistan, but they have run up against U.S. extraction efforts manifestly unprepared to help them. (Cal Today)

• Taiwan Stages Military Drills to Deter Chinese Aggression (WSJ)

• Kazakhstan president gives shoot-to-kill order against protesters, dismissing calls for negotiations (WP)

• VIDEO: Protesters Clash With Security Forces in Kazakhstan (NYT)

• From stability to turmoil - what's going on in Kazakhstan (Reuters)

• In Kazakhstan, Putin Again Seizes on Unrest to Try to Expand Influence (NYT)

• What to Do When All Your Employees Want to Leave (WSJ)

• Kids are back in school — and struggling with mental health issues (NPR)

• US unemployment sinks to 3.9% as many more people find jobs (AP)

• Bitcoin prices fall to lowest in months after US Fed remarks (BBC)

• "Catalog releases – or tracks that debuted more than 18 months ago –
  experienced a 24.8 percent year-over-year consumption hike in the U.S.
  in 2021 and accounted for nearly three-quarters of domestic listening,
  even as total stateside audio streams grew by nearly 10 percent YoY. (Digital Music News)

• The rise of a pro-democracy media (WP)

• The Western megadrought is revealing America's 'lost national park' (NPR)

• ‘Drastic’ rise in high Arctic lightning has scientists worried (Guardian)

• Is Nuclear Power Part of the Climate Solution? (WSJ)

• Hunters kill 20 Yellowstone wolves that roamed out of park (AP)

• Peter Bogdanovich, director of 1970s classics like “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon,” died on Thursdayat his home in Los Angeles. He was 82. (Cal Today)

• Sidney Poitier, first Black man to win Oscar for best actor, dies at 94 (WP)

• How Do Self-Driving Cars Avoid Driving Straight To The Beach? (The Onion)

TODAY’S LYRICS:

“For All I Know”

Merle Haggard

For all I know you never cared about me
And chances are I never crossed your mind
Maybe you won't understand me calling
But darling it's been such a long long time.

For all I know there may be someone with you now
But may be he won't mind the friendly call
You've already made it clear that you stopped loving me
And for all I know you never cared at all.

I can't help it if I sound like I've been crying
'Cause darling I've been crying all night long
I just call to let you know just how much I need you
And for all I know you may be there alone.

Surely you must know I'd give the world to see you now
And could be you'd like to have me one more time
You've already made it clear that you stopped loving me
But for all I know I may have lost my mind.