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Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences...
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. Over several centuries, South Korea, for instance, constructed one of the most rigid patriarchal societies in the world. Many wives who failed to produce male heirs were abused and treated as domestic servants; some families prayed to spirits to kill off girl children. Then, in the 1970s and ’80s, the government embraced an industrial revolution and encouraged women to enter the labor force. Women moved to the city and went to college. They advanced rapidly, from industrial jobs to clerical jobs to professional work. The traditional order began to crumble soon after. In 1990, the country’s laws were revised so that women could keep custody of their children after a divorce and inherit property. In 2005, the court ruled that women could register children under their own names. As recently as 1985, about half of all women in a national survey said they “must have a son.” That percentage fell slowly until 1991 and then plummeted to just over 15 percent by 2003. Male preference in South Korea “is over,” says Monica Das Gupta, a demographer and Asia expert at the World Bank. “It happened so fast. It’s hard to believe it, but it is.”
...What if the modern, postindustrial economy is simply more congenial to women than to men?
...Once you open your eyes to this possibility, the evidence is all around you. It can be found, most immediately, in the wreckage of the Great Recession, in which three-quarters of the 8 million jobs lost were lost by men. The worst-hit industries were overwhelmingly male and deeply identified with macho: construction, manufacturing, high finance. Some of these jobs will come back, but the overall pattern of dislocation is neither temporary nor random. The recession merely revealed—and accelerated—a profound economic shift that has been going on for at least 30 years, and in some respects even longer.
Earlier this year, for the first time in American history, the balance of the workforce tipped toward women, who now hold a majority of the nation’s jobs. The working class, which has long defined our notions of masculinity, is slowly turning into a matriarchy, with men increasingly absent from the home and women making all the decisions. Women dominate today’s colleges and professional schools—for every two men who will receive a B.A. this year, three women will do the same. Of the 15 job categories projected to grow the most in the next decade in the U.S., all but two are occupied primarily by women. Indeed, the U.S. economy is in some ways becoming a kind of traveling sisterhood: upper-class women leave home and enter the workforce, creating domestic jobs for other women to fill.
The postindustrial economy is indifferent to men’s size and strength. The attributes that are most valuable today—social intelligence, open communication, the ability to sit still and focus—are, at a minimum, not predominantly male. In fact, the opposite may be true. Women in poor parts of India are learning English faster than men to meet the demands of new global call centers. Women own more than 40 percent of private businesses in China, where a red Ferrari is the new status symbol for female entrepreneurs. Last year, Iceland elected Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, the world’s first openly lesbian head of state, who campaigned explicitly against the male elite she claimed had destroyed the nation’s banking system, and who vowed to end the “age of testosterone.”
The End of Men - Magazine - The Atlantic
Money quote: With few exceptions, the greater the power of women, the greater the country’s economic success.
Any thoughts on where we're headed culturally?
Well the article cites a lot of statistics without offering a meaningful interpretation of them. IMO the argument is pretty shaky
For example:
Just because 8 million men lost jobs in our current recession, does not mean that women are going to dominate those industries. As the article mentioned, more men lost their jobs, because those industries were male dominated. You cannot conclude that women will become a dominant force thereafter.
Women dominate today’s colleges and professional schools—for every two men who will receive a B.A. this year, three women will do the same.
The article states that about three women get a BA for every two men. However the most promising industries require science and engineering backgrounds which are still male dominated. What are the statistics for a BS? Or for that matter, what are the statistics for MD, MS, PhD (in sciences), etc.
The postindustrial economy is indifferent to men’s size and strength. The attributes that are most valuable today—social intelligence, open communication, the ability to sit still and focus.
Thats assuming that men who have succeeded in all the different industries relied on size and strength over social intelligence and focus.
Women own more than 40 percent of private businesses in China, where a red Ferrari is the new status symbol for female entrepreneurs.
That just shows that gender roles are becoming more equal, doesn't mean women are becoming dominant.
Last year, Iceland elected Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, the world’s first openly lesbian head of state, who campaigned explicitly against the male elite she claimed had destroyed the nation’s banking system, and who vowed to end the “age of testosterone.”
I doubt that testosterone has any correlation with greed.
The End of Men - Magazine - The Atlantic
Money quote: With few exceptions, the greater the power of women, the greater the country’s economic success.
Any thoughts on where we're headed culturally?
With artificial insemination easier and easier to get and afford, I think we'll just be keeping some men around as sex slaves. If and when we decide to let them out of their cages.
The End of Men - Magazine - The Atlantic
Money quote: With few exceptions, the greater the power of women, the greater the country’s economic success.
Any thoughts on where we're headed culturally?
The End of Men - Magazine - The Atlantic
Money quote: With few exceptions, the greater the power of women, the greater the country’s economic success.
Any thoughts on where we're headed culturally?
I think the proposition that less men = better economic success is moronic.
Men subsidize women, generally speaking.
Men subsidizing women is the old system that is beginning to shift. I personally think that the article overstates the idea of women dominating, but equality is advancing fairly rapidly. The recession is helping this and I view it as one of the few good things to come out of the recession. I highly doubt men are going to become consigned to being "house husbands" or get removed permanently from the workforce, that would be economic suicide to kick out half your country's labor force. No what we're seeing is a rise in equality not female dominance.
Seriously, though, in my mistress program, women outnumber men 3:1.
I am glad that women are making progress, but the article in its entirely leaves out a few key pieces of information. One is that the U.S. is moving towards a service based economy, which means barriers to entry are mostly education and not physical ability. Men still occupy most of the positions in the physical labor force and the types of jobs that no one wants to do. The service industry created a culture of more cushy desk jobs and administrative work. Corporate offices are staffed largely by women, especially at the lower levels, while upper management are still mostly men.
I want to see their source for the claim that most managers are now women because I find that hard to believe.
You want to know what the new largest group of millionaires is coming from?
.
You should check out how they obtain the semem for artificial insemination in cattle production. :lol:At least those few men will be getting lots of sex!
Every so often, these silly feminist articles pop up in the news. There never will be an end to men. It's a feminist pipe dream, and quite childish at that. BTW, with all the hoopla about jobs shipped overseas, the US is still the biggest manufacturing country in the world. It's not China yet, for all you wishful lefties.
...What if the modern, postindustrial economy is simply more congenial to women than to men?
I think the proposition that less men = better economic success is moronic.
Men subsidize women, generally speaking.
Carly Fiorina for total epic fail for women.
Poor HP stockholders. And to think the GOP are actually running her as a candidate. Wow. They must be desperate.
Don't go there... LOL. You saw what happened to the authors of The Bell Curve.Imagine an article that reversed that or subbed in various ethnicities in place of genders.
Hopefully to a society that doesn't keep score of who is where in the workplace: male, female, black, white, brown, olive, red or yellow. It really doesn't matter... does it?Any thoughts on where we're headed culturally?
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