by Pamela McCorduck and Nancy Ramsey
Warner Books
The questions in this Study Guide are intended to help your group read The Futures of Women more deeply, more adventurously, and from different, perhaps unexpected, angles. The questions suggest other topics members of your group might want to pursue in discussion, or even as projects.
These questions have no "correct" answers. They are intended to help you to think harder about your future, understand the most important elements it contains, and perhaps even work toward what you consider positive change.
Four alternative scenarios are presented in The Futures of Women, in contrast with what the authors call "The Official Future". What is wrong with the idea of "the official future" and why won't it take place?
Name some recent events that point toward a "Backlash" scenario for women. Name some recent events that point toward a "Golden Age of Equality". Toward "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back". Toward "Separate--and Doing Fine, Thanks!" Given that none of the scenarios will take place just as written, which scenario, in your opinion, looks to be overall the most plausible right now for the year 2015? Which scenario looked most plausible five years ago?
These alternative scenarios are based on predetermined elements, and driving forces. Do you think the authors give sufficient weight to the predetermined elements of demographics (the changes in population numbers and ages that will take place in the next two decades)? to education? to technology change? Imagine different scenarios given the same predetermined elements. Can you think of predetermined elements the authors might have overlooked?
The driving forces the authors identify for their scenarios are: the tension between individual rights and group rights, and the waxing and waning of the global economy. What are other driving forces that might affect scenarios of the future for women? Can you construct your own scenarios along such lines?
The authors mention "wild cards" that might dramatically change any scenario for the future. Imagine in some detail a scenario for women and men using a wild card the authors cite, such as atomic and biological terrorism; global climate change; dramatic new contraceptive and birth technologies; nanotechnology; expanded life expectancy; rapidly spreading superplagues; or economic meltdown. Can you think of any other wild cards that might dramatically change a future scenario for women? For men?
The Backlash scenario arises out of the conjunction of a depressed global economy and the prevalence of group over individual rights. Why do you think women are so often the most prominent targets for dissatisfied political or economic groups? Can you name some recent examples of this kind of public and unapologetic discrimination against women?
The Golden Age of Equality arises out of the conjunction of a robust global economy and the respect for individual rights prevailing over group rights. But a Golden Age of Equality cannot happen unless men perceive value in it too. What do men have to gain by equality? Are there other implications for gender roles in a Golden Age of Equality?
Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back arises out of a conjunction of a depressed global economy, although individual rights are generally treated with respect. In this scenario, why is equality so elusive for women? Statistically, women are far less likely to behave violently than men. Do you think this figures into this scenario?
Separate--and Doing Fine, Thanks! arises out of a conjunction of a robust global economy, and the prevalence of group over individual rights. Do you think the rise in the incidence of unmarried mothers--a phenomenon occurring all over the developed world, and in many less developed countries too--is a sign of this scenario? The authors cite the European beguines as historical precedent for women choosing to live separately from men. Can you think of other examples? Do single-sex colleges count as an example? Regardless, do you think single-sex colleges are basically a good idea?
Imagine you are part of the long-range planning team for a growing business. What would you recommend for your firm with regard to workplace policy under the circumstances of each of these scenarios? What would you recommend for advertising? For product development?
You may already have decided which scenario you prefer (perhaps different from the one you expect to take place). How would you go about securing such a future for yourself?
Both authors presented imaginary pictures of themselves at age 75. If you are not yet 75, compose a sketch of yourself at that age. If you have reached age 75, compose a sketch of yourself and contrast it to what you believed and hoped for when you were younger.
The authors have created women who live in each of these scenarios. Do the characters detract from or add to the sense of the scenario for you? Imagine a specific woman in one scenario, and put her into a different scenario. How is her life transformed?
Scenario work (and its look at the future) is designed to illuminate the present, make us more alert to trends and changes occurring around us. Identify a single event in recent newspapers or journals--or a single even that hasn't been covered in the media--that gives you an increased awareness of a trend with important implications for women.
The authors show how increased globalization can mean one thing for women while a disintegration of the nation state into old tribes and ethnic groups could mean yet another. Since both of these changes are happening at the same time, how can women make the most of these changes to advance a scenario they prefer?
Anthropologists have long observed that nearly every traditional culture makes a distinction between so-called men's work and so-called women's work, though women's work in one society may be what men do in another culture, and vice versa. Furthermore, almost universally, whatever women's work may be, it is considered less important than men's. Why do you think this is? What implications do these reasons have for a society like ours, where women's and men's work is blending?
Pamela McCorduck is the author or co-author of eight published books. Two are novels, five are focused on the intellectual impact of computing, especially aspects of artificial intelligence, while her most recent, The Futures of Women, examines the future. Among her other books are: Machines Who Think, The Fifth Generation, The Universal Machine; and Aaron's Code. Her books have been translated into all the major European and Asian languages, and her work has appeared in journals ranging from Cosmopolitan and Omni to the New York Times and the Michigan Quarterly Review. She also contributes to Wired. She was educated at the University of California at Berkeley, and Columbia University, and lives in New York City and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Nancy Ramsey is an author, futurist, and entrepreneur. She has co-authored two books, The Futures of Women: Scenarios for the 21st Century, and Nuclear Weapons Decision Making. She consults for the Global Business Network on scenario planning, and is president of Morning Star Imports, a small company that imports tribal and ethnic jewelry. Before this, she spent her professional life in public policy and politics in Washington D.C., where she lobbied and directed a number of private organizations focused on foreign and military policy. Ramsey served as Legislative Director to Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. Ramsey graduated from the University of Chicago (MSW), and Colby College (BA), and currently lives in Tiburon, California.
What to know more about the book: The Futures of Women: Scenarios for the 21st Century?