Men and Meetings.

Office Meetings... #wheeew! Couldn't stop glancing at my Watch.
It started at about 10:13 am and at 12:40 'twas showing no signs of winding down anytime soon.
The meeting was being run, you see, by a Man. Doesn't matter which Man- Could even be some guy named John, it could be one of the night watch Men even.
I've come to understand it as a central fact of Corporate life: If a Man is running the Meeting, it will take Eighteen times longer than it would a Woman. This is absolutely true especially if you work in a much larger Company than mine, with many more Policies, and Rules and Meetings. I think i have spent half of my work life in Meetings run by Men.
Just last week, two hours. Two hours to discuss the Company Policy about throwing birthday parties. Why is this? What is it about the male character that makes a Meeting drone on and on and on? Is it a difference in Organisational skills? Or a difference in the male and female sense of Time? Or they simply soo like to hear the Sound of their own Voices that they ramble on indefinitely if given the chance?
I believe its all three. Today, this particular meeting was devoted to a discussion of the correct use of the Semicolon when drafting memos to the Coordinator. You see, my Boss doesn't like being called CEO or MD, prefers being called The Coordinator...and this was how this man was talking; "Now let me say that when we're talking about Semicolons-and in this case, i mean Semicolons as opposed to Colons or as opposed to Commas- we're talking about  Semicolons, what we have to do is talk about the utilization of the Semicolon and not just proper application of semicolons in the contexts of, say, current grammatical theory..." God knows i slapped him Fifty times, in my mind. Why couldn't he just say "use semicolons in so and so cases but not in that..."  or something. That's assuming we actually needed the lecture. Still cant understand why issues like this become so convoluted?
Oh, i know why. Because he's a Man. The idea that Women are feelings-oriented and Men, action-oriented is a bunch of hooey when it comes to life in the Office. I believe so in the depth of my soul.
The real truth has to do with different notions of success and accomplishment and how best to attain them. I usually associate accomplishment with productivity, and so do other women, generally. If i'm being busy and efficient and engaged or i've just ticked Nine out of Ten items off my list of things to do-That makes me feel successful. Diligent. Deserving a Reward. But most Men i work with seem to associate success with presence, with being seen and heard.
"If i can force Nine People to sit in a Room and listen to my voice for two and half hours, then i must be successful..."
"If i can turn what should be a three-minute conversation about Office Paper into a Forty-five Minute dialogue, then i must be important".
"If i can find Nine ways to say the same thing about Semicolons and Fourteen other ways to use big words like 'context' and 'utilization', then i must be really smart".
(don't understand my obsession with the Number 'Nine'). The Meetings keep going on and on...Testosterone poisoning. Its such a terrible thing.