In the July/August issue of Atlantic Magazine, Hanna Rosin wrote an article titled, “The End of Men,” which reports that for the first time in U.S. history, women have become the majority of the workforce and are earning college degrees at a faster rate than men. She reflects upon the question that rather than it being an issue of equality, is a modern post-industrial society simple better suited to women?
While women have made very significant strides over the years towards gaining an equal footing in society, and I understand the article’s argument that a society which values “social intelligence, open communication," and "the ability to sit still and focus” could reap benefits for women, I think this article misses the boat in its depiction of women’s current economic status and applauds women’s efforts too early in the process. Through taking a US-focused approach and carefully selecting global tidbits that support its argument (majority of women in Parliament of Rwanda, Liberia’s female president), the article systematically leaves out some glaringly obvious facts regarding developing countries disregard for women who cannot produce sons, the still-practiced marriage of prepubescent girls to men three times their age and the rampant lack of access to education for poor women abroad.
According to The United Nations Interagency Task Force on Adolescent Girls (March 2009):
• Girls represent 55 per cent of the more than 75 million children who are not enrolled in primary school.
• Worldwide, more than 60 million women aged 20-24 were married before they turned 18 and if present trends continue, more than 100 million girls will probably be married as children in the next decade.
After reading Half the Sky a few weeks back and just having put down I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui, both of which depict the global oppression of women (the second one is specific to Yemen), I found that I couldn’t reconcile what I read in those books with what I was reading in this article. Now people could argue that this article is primarily about America – not Yemen or the developing world – and that I’m analyzing this article within a global (and therefore irrelevant) context and missing its point, but I want to argue otherwise. Yes, women have made tremendous progress, but we have a long way to go. An article like this is misleading because it seeks to convince us that the “die has been cast” for women to excel and we can sit back and watch the movement run its course – but until women are respected on a global level then there is far more work to be done.
And even in the US, the article clearly talks about the dearth of top female executives and prevailing issue of unequal pay – so while it’s great that women in the U.S. are empowered to join the work force, let’s not get carried away. As per the title of Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney’s book (it’s on my reading list!): Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated. It is not time to cheer on “The End of Men,” a title itself which I find to be cheeky and patronizing (and makes us all sound like radical bra-burning, man-hating feminists), it’s time to take stock of our progress and realize that there is more work to be done.
I am a believer in applauding progress as a means of encouragement and motivation, but this is the only first act of a long play.
In fact, I was recently at the gym watching Meet the Press with guests Carly Fiorina, Republican Nominee for the U.S. Senate from Californa, and Congresswoman (D-FL) Debbie Wasserman Schultz (among others) debating the BP Oil Spill. I will not get into the intricacies of the actual debate (for which a lot can be said) – I was more interested in what occurred afterwards when host David Gregory asked them whether, based on the steady stream of women who won the primaries and top-tier headlines heralding their victories, they thought that this was the “year of the woman” or if there were other factors at play. Ms. Fiorina said that the “candidates are reflecting the diversity of America” and called it “natural progression” and “worth celebrating,” but Ms. Schultz framed it a bit differently. She said, “I always think it’s funny when the media declares something the year of the woman. I mean, are we only entitled to one every 18 years or so?”
Other guests on the show chimed in, talking about the number of women attaining higher education degrees and the “social revolution” taking place, while Chief Political Columnist of Politico Roger Simon had the last word (with a nod in agreement from Ms. Schultz): “…I hate to rain on the parade here. These women here have won primaries. We [ought] to come back in November and see how many of them get elected.”
See full video here (age of woman starts at 17:24):
As I said, it’s only the first act of the play on the progress of women.
And to go back to my initial point, we’re not even considering all of the (global) players.
So forget the “year of the woman,” and understand “The End of Men,” as the titillating, PR-laden title that it is. I propose that we recognize progress when we see it, smile and applaud, and keep pushing forward.
We’re not there yet.
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