It can feel like the contents of Pandora s Box have been unleashed on our souls. And like Pandora, we unleashed the troubles by our own hand. Sometimes the repercussions for mistakes are or seem more severe for women than for men. But, the most anguish and the most damage to women are self-inflicted. Women suffer intensely, and typically non-productively, from their mistakes.
Most men do better.
I think that women, for many reasons, do not expect to make mistakes. When they do, they handle their mistakes with emotion and excess penance, but typically not with analysis and evaluation. Because of this incomplete reaction, women fail to benefit from mistakes, as they should. Most men have learned to react better and women have to catch up. Making mistakes is a gender neutral, human condition.