Don't flame me until you understand where this is coming from.

A judge I worked for for 23 years was a great team builder. He supported his people, and his people supported him. He said something like this about teamwork and gender roles:

"Men's and women's ideas of teamwork tend to be different, largely because of sports. Boys are raised being immersed in sports, and teamwork means something specific.

"If you ask a woman (generally speaking) what teamwork means, she'll say something like "Getting along with the other players(workers) and generally cooperating for the good of the organization.'

"If you ask a man what teamwork is, because of male grounding in sports he is likely to say something like 'Each player has a specific function, and does it, and keeps out of the way of the other players.'"

He went on: "With today's greater opportunity and encouragement for women to participate in team sports, that difference will be lessened, and women will benefit in terms of their position in life."

I haven't quoted him exactly, but that's the idea, and it makes some sense to me. By the way, I'm a lifelong missionary antiathletic nut, so I'm not sure why I fit in so well with this judge's organization. Perhaps because my particular job is so specialized nobody else could do it and I couldn't do the other people's functions.

Dave Oesterreich