The End Of Men

In many ways it seems like Hanna Rosin has been sitting in our class the past three weeks. Her article "The End of Men" (there is a link in the title) in The Atlantic Monthly touches almost every topic we have covered in class from stereotypes to quotas to the wage gap. It is a little scary. Throughout her article, Hanna Rosin argues that women are actually progressing much faster in society than we may think. Her article is the perfect juxtaposition to Carolyn Maloney's book.

Essentially, Rosin argues that women in general are more suited for the 21st century. At first glance, this argument seemed absurd. I thought how can one gender be suited better for a particular time in history? However, once reading her examples it sort of begins to make sense. To begin illustrating her point she examines the number of women earning college and professional degrees versus the number of men. Having attended a state university that had more women than men it was not all that surprising to find that more women graduate from college than men. Next, Rosin examines how traditional stereotypes of men and women have influenced their careers. For example, Rosin discusses that traditionally men are lauded for their strength and competitive nature. According to the author, this made men perfect for the manufacturing jobs and high-powered competitive careers like those on Wall Street in the 20th century. Unfortunately, for men, those jobs are disappearing during the recession. On the other hand, women are traditionally known to be more nurturing and flexible. This is why more women tend to be in the nursing and teaching profession. And according to Rosin, "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." In addition, Rosin points out that as of this year women outnumber men in the workforce for the first time. Anyways, the article is quite long and she goes on in great detail to talk more about how the stereotypes of men and women actually play into the careers.

While I think the entire article is fascinating and I am more inclined to agree with Rosin than with Maloney on women's progress I was especially interested with the quotes Rosin uses from current female college students. These female students do not seem the least bit concerned with being discriminated against because of their gender. In fact, they all seem to think that they will be the ones with the "high-power" careers while their husbands stay at home and take care of the kids. So, my question is do you think the issue of discrimination against women is more generational? Do the women who are now entering the workforce really have as hard of a time as Carolyn Maloney suggests? Or have the authors we have read simply worked in a different time in a different climate? I am not really sure.