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Are Men Becoming Irrelevant? - 7/6/2010 7:53:51 AM

vincentML

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Joined: 10/31/2009
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http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135/

I am not sure you will be able to click through the link if you are not a subscriber to the Atlantic Magazine so I will summarize the article as well as I can and ask for your comments. The data presented applies to the US but I assume it speaks to similar conditions in Canada, the UK, and other Western European nations and I invite your comments as well.

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In the new post manufacturing economy thinking and communicating have eclipsed physical strength and stamina as keys to economic success. Formal education credentials are increasingly required and women hold an expanding edge except in Engineering and in the Physical Sciences. Men have been much more recalcitrant in adapting to this new environment.

Women students dominate in community colleges, universities, and professional schools. Some schools have had to resort to an unspoken “diversity” policy to encourage the entrance of more male students.

Women now hold a majority of the nation’s jobs while male figures are increasingly absent from the home at all socio-economic levels.

Of the fifteen job categories projected to grow the most in the next decade in the US all but two (janitorial and engineering) are occupied by women.

Women now hold 51.4% of managerial jobs vs. 26.1% in 1980; 54% of accountants are women; 50% of all banking and insurance jobs are held by women; 33% of doctors and 45% of lawyers are women. More and more businesses are accommodating the desire of women to have both significant workplace careers and children with flex time and telecommuting arrangements.

While still rare in the largest companies female CEOs out-earned their male counter parts by 43% and received bigger raises recently.

The old model of command and control leadership is giving way to a “post-heroic” or “transformational” form of leader who behaves like a good coach and uses charisma to motivate others (Think Obama and the criticism against his style)

The gender gap is growing but in an unexpected fashion. Men are not only being left behind in the workplace. Marriage may be disappearing because women are setting the terms too high for men to reach. More women have useful education skills at all socio-economic levels and do not find men who can share the financial responsibility of raising a family, so they opt to go it alone and create their own matriarchy.

Interestingly, women are also making the decision of child gender in sperm selection processes and as many as 75% are selecting for girls.

Similar trends as those in this article have been reported in South Korea, China, and India.

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So, what impact might we expect from this re-ordering of society that seems to be under way? Let’s assume for the sake of argument the trend will continue and we will see increasing numbers of women in positions of political and economic power. In the years ahead their numbers will increase significantly among CEOs of major corporations. More and more women will enter Congress and Parliament. The States will have a series of female Presidents while Canada and the UK more frequently have female PMs.

As women gain political power we may see more emphasis on solving environmental and clean energy problems, a draw down of the military-industrial complex and less likelihood of needless warrior crusades, a more progressive policy towards issues of education and health care and etc.

On the other hand, every radical revolution unleashes reactionary backlashes. Push back should be anticipated from patriarchal churches. The military is not likely to alter its command and control structure but will seek to simply co-opt the increasing number of women in the officer corps to its long standing traditions. Under-educated, jobless men will seek more ways to retain their machismo. Fight clubs? Higher crime rates? More football hooliganism?

And finally, leaving Maggie Thatcher aside as a one off in a different era, the ascension of women into positions of power may reduce the probability of war between nations but it may as likely leave us vulnerable to the incursions of patriarchal radical Islamists who view the change as weakness.

It is kind of difficult to reduce this to one simple question other then to ask you what impact do you perceive if the trend continues full throttle into the future?

In the alternative, what disagreement do you have with the premise and the propositions I have laid out?

_____________________________

vML

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ MLK Jr.