Let's face it, women have made substantial gains in the field of law, business, medicine, behavioral sciences, engineering and other areas of professionalism that were traditionally thought to be man's domain. This is a direct result of the feminist movement which has brought a variety of social and cultural changes, impacting and affecting family relations, religion, the place of women in society, gendered language (the she/he factor) and relationships between women and men.
There was a time when women were called "housewives." Then came the time when housewives were called to work in industry to bear the burden of breadwinner and keep the home front operating while men were fighting or dying for country. Upon the return of men and "normalcy" of life, women became fed up with the gender inequality and took enormous steps to change that image. During the early '70's, some men, whether envious of a woman's option to choose to be employed or through unfortunate challenges, stayed home and became "househusbands." Meanwhile, women moved forward with their plight for equality through education and employment. The gender language changed, and "housewives" and "househusbands" became "homemakers," especially since wife and husband were becoming less of a necessary factor in creating a family. The idea of working for extra comfort and material things, and deriving pleasure from owning a house (or bigger house), a car (or luxury car) became not just status symbols of 'old fashioned' men, but the measure of a modern woman's hard earned success. Women became self reliant and career oriented, moving the gage on the "equal-meter" closer to the center. Meanwhile, educated women who chose to put career aside to raise a family moved from the warmer, more homey description of their title of homemaker to the colder, rigid, linear approach of today's "domestic engineer." Even Roseanne Barr of the Roseanne show said in one of her episodes, "I hate the word housewife; I don't like the word homemaker either. I want to be called Domestic Goddess."
Today, the educated young generation of women are reaching new peaks. According to a recent CNN research report, 22% of women are now better educated than their husbands or make more money. While it is wonderful to be part of a generation that has evolved from a society that traditionally assigned women the role of money handling to that of money-making, I fear we are in the middle of a culture in which instead of moving toward the center, we are switching sides. At the risk of being gender-incorrect, I see current culture defeminizing our women and feminizing our men, or as some might prefer, masculinizing our women and demasculinizing our men. Currently, more working men than women are unemployed,* and with the rise of women determined to crack the "glass ceiling" or raise the bar further to excel at all cost even if it entails becoming romance resistant, men are filling in the shoes of domestic engineers and adapting to the reversal of gender roles with ease. There are men out there who choose to become more of a family man than more of a business man. Yet, with all the liberated idealism, this is a choice that, unfortunately, is often frowned upon by the career woman. Women,(whether because of need or desire)once again are bearing the burden--or the opportunity--of being breadwinners. Whether woman wants to be a career woman who runs the rat race and cracks the glass ceiling, or she wants to be a domestic engineer who focuses on raising a family and molding children by her values and ideals, is a rightful choice she makes. I support her choice. By the same token, if a man chooses or wishes to become the domestic engineer while the woman earns the keep, he should be able to do so without demeaning commentary from existing culture. I support the man. And perhaps in a few short years, a well educated, high salaried, well established career woman might come his way and ask for his hand as the perfect domestic engineer to form a family partnership!
Maybe it's time to reconsider the Feminist title and change it to the Equalist.
What say you?
This I humbly speak...
*Current Population Survey and Employment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics published in The New York Times, Business Section, Feb.6,2009
