Women's Innovative Strengths for Development

According to Helen Fisher (2005), a biological anthropologist at Rutger’s University, women’s thinking is different from men’s. She refers to the interrelated way women think as ‘web thinking’. Women think contextually and holistically and display more mental flexibility. They take in more data and synthesize them expertly, connecting the details faster, using imaginative judgment. The characteristics of web thinking are essential to innovation. Since women do it naturally, their role in teams and in organizations is becoming more important. Women can become instrumental for innovation to produce change in a world where sustainable development requires profound transformation in thinking, in economic and social structures and in consumption and production patterns.