The end of men? This woman doesn’t buy it.
The current issue of The Atlantic features a cover story entitled, “The End of Men: How Women Are Taking Control — of Everything.” Its author, Hanna Rosin, maintains that females are blowing the doors off our male peers; we’re dominating middle management and professions like accounting. We make up a third of all physicians and take about half of insurance and banking jobs. We’re also more adaptable to changing circumstances than men, and we’re better educated.
When I read this, I thought, “Great, but what about money?”
Well, according to a 2009 report by the Center for American Progress, U.S. women still only make 78 cents for every dollar a man earns, so I wouldn’t gloat just yet. It doesn’t matter how hard we work, what lofty jobs we hold, or the degrees we earn. In the end, it comes down to money. (Just ask Tony Hayward and the boys from BP.)
Rosin admits that we women also do the bulk of childcare. No kidding. And we also do the bulk of cleaning toilets.
That’s just in the U.S., where things are good. In many parts of the world, girls are subject to routine genital mutilation. Rape victims are sentenced to death for committing adultery. They’re sold into the sex trade. Very young girls die after being married to 65-year-old men who rape them. (Please see Equality Now for details.)
And, just this morning, Cherie Blair appeared on Morning Joe to discuss the sad plight of widows worldwide (the clip runs at the end of this post). They’re not exactly taking over the world.
