Please answer the following questions. Who has the power? How is the power achieved and maintained? What is the authors attitude toward society? How are gender roles portrayed? (I am a desperate mom trying to help her child with his summer work and pulling my hair out!) HELP!

In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell discusses the human capability for rapid cognition and strives to convince the reader that in many cases the ability to form first impressions is beneficial. He also seeks to convince readers that sometimes these first impressions should not be trusted, but that with awareness of the skill and its potential pitfalls, people can educate and control their "thin-slicing" (rapid cognition) ability to gain from it. 
The specific answers to the questions are as follows:
1. All humans have the "power of thinking without thinking." Rapid cognition is a feature of human intelligence. However, many people do not embrace the power or do not know they have it, which is one reason Gladwell wrote the book. Those who use the power most fully are those who have educated their abilities by becoming experts in a certain field. In relation to their area of expertise, they develop a strong sense of intuition that is almost always correct.
2. The power is achieved by simply having a human brain. But to get the most from it—you might call it maintaining the power—one must become an expert in a field by gaining much experience and must be willing to trust his or her instincts and act on them. In addition, one must consciously screen out one's prejudices that can get in the way of sound decision-making.
3. The author has a positive attitude toward society. Although he acknowledges shortcomings among humans—particularly such negatives as racial prejudice, police violence, and gender discrimination—he presents solutions and seems to anticipate a time when such societal problems can be lessened. For example, he notes that "there is a powerful lesson in classical music's revolution." 
4. Gladwell takes an egalitarian view of gender roles. Throughout most of the text, he cites both male and female experts to support his point of view. He overtly addresses gender roles in the conclusion when he relates a story of gender bias in symphony orchestras. His point is that women have been discriminated against in some professional fields but that they certainly can achieve as much as their male counterparts.