Feminists always argue that, to a certain extent, gender inequality still exists. There is still a significant pay gap in many countries and violence against women is a big problem, plus we are being increasingly made to feel as though our own bodies are a battleground. The fight is not yet over. However, today I had my attention drawn to an article by Hanna Rosin for The Atlantic magazine, entitled The End of Men. In it, Rosin discusses how the historical preference for male children has changed radically in recent years, and ponders whether our modern post-industrial society is actually better suited to women. She says:
“Man has been the dominant sex since, well, the dawn of mankind. But for the first time in human history, that is changing–and with shocking speed. Cultural and economic changes always reinforce each other. And the global economy is evolving in a way that is eroding the historical preference for male children, worldwide […] What if the modern, postindustrial economy is simply more congenial to women than to men?”
Perhaps things will change sooner than we think. Now that more women that ever before are better educated and in employment, can we really look to a future we have a matriarchy? If so, would that be any better than how we currently live, or would it simply be a case of “same old sexism: different victim”? If society could let go of traditional male stereotypes and allow men to fit into this post-industrial world of ours without ridicule, I think we’d be on the right track. I don’t want to see what’s beyond equality. Something tells me it might not be as good as some of us think.
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