Barbara Annis and John Gray argue in “Work With Me” that men and women are biologically wired to think and react differently to situations, and have “gender blind spots” when it comes to understanding their co-workers’ behaviour. Ms Annis, who leads workshops on gender for big companies and governments, and Mr Gray, author of “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”, a bestselling book in 1992 about relationship problems, have collaborated to produce an easy-to-read guide to workplace communications. Women ask more questions, gather more people’s opinions and seek collaboration with co-workers more frequently than men. Men view these preferences as signs of weakness, and women, in turn, grow annoyed by how competitively men work, and how quickly and unilaterally they arrive at conclusions.  Article   

Personal-finance advice for women

Financial information targeted specifically for women is just a few clicks away on the World Wide Web. Several websites cater to the financial interests of women, from asset allocation to retirement planning. Here is a sampling: 

Illustration: Colin Daniel

The EPO’s Examination Division in January 2011 wrote a letter to the Seminis seed company to tell them that there are no fundamental objections to a patent application on tomatoes. Seminis, a subsidiary of the US company Monsanto, applied for a patent on conventionally-bred tomatoes that have less core (EP1026942). The EPO has been sending similar examination reports to other applicants too.  “If this development is not stopped, within a few years there might be no more seeds on the market that are not covered by patents. Corporations such as Monsanto, Syngenta and Dupont will then decide what plants are grown and which food is sold in Europe and how much it will cost,” says Christoph Then, one of the spokespersons of the No Patents On Seeds coalition.  Article  Update: US Supreme Court Protects Monsanto’s Seeds.  Article

Females and finance: money questions for the ladies.
Last week, Moneywise received a letter from a 29-year old professional and Bermudian resident employed successfully in Bermuda. She asked us to consider answering some financial questions in order to assure herself that she is on track financially. While we cannot provide specific personal financial advice, however, we requested permission to place a sanitised version (scrubbed of personal information) of her queries into the public domain. We thank her for allowing us this chance to provide some information. See questions: