1. “Men, I’m afraid, are becoming obsolete. We
don’t hunt anymore, we aren’t needed for
protection – most of the things we are
biologically programmed to do have become
irrelevant in modern times.”
-Gene Poirier, Ph.D., Chairman of Anthropology, Ohio State University
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chiaralily/6965585554
15. March 2009
1,162,000 unemployed women –
1,238,000 men
December 2007 to March 2009
38% women stopped looking
90% men stopped looking
https://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/8125991446/
Personal Experience – I will say that I am proud of my husband. He pushed himself through high school, even without parents around. However, when it came to college he needed a little push. I have found that many women are able to push themselves to begin and go through college. My husband was waiting around, and when he finally enrolled, he took long breaks between semesters. We support each other, but I find that I have a higher drive than him to get through school and really begin my life. His response when I ask him what he wants for his future? – “Eh, it’s whatever.”
Working women are still the primary homemakers
Slide 12: Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research shows that eight out of 10 married women do more household chores, while just one in 10 married men does an equal amount of cleaning and washing as his wife. Just over one in 10 women – 13% – say their husbands do more housework than they do, while only 3% of married women do fewer than three hours a week, with almost half doing 13 hours or more.
Women vs. Men on Childcare and hours spent with physical/leisurely duties.
Men are higher in the unemployment ranks than women, but still not raising in the stats as stay-at-home parents.
In March 2009, the BLS reported that 1,162,000 unemployed women and 1,238,000 men had shifted from “looking” to “stopped looking” in the preceding month. So not only are men and women now exiting the labor force at roughly equal rates, but if current trends continue, men will start doing so even more. The increase in the number of women dropping out from December 2007 to March 2009 was 38%. The increase in the number of men dropping out was 90%.
Since 1965, the number of hours that men spend on childcare has tripled, and while the number of full-time stay-at-home dads is still minuscule, the direction is clear–it went up two and a half times from 1995 to 2007, to 159,000.
Call to Action: We need to make men aware that they are no longer the traditional aspect of “man.” In today’s society, I feel that a webpage would be the best call to action. These statistics could be listed and people could feel free to speak their opinions and give their stories. With enough men and women agreeing with the facts, perhaps things could change. Eyes need to be opened.
Raising awareness of gender inequality and men losing their place could help families come together. There is a bigger gap between men and women in unemployment, women are moving up in the job ranks, and females are doing better in school and producing a higher graduation rate. Step it up, men!
Men, or the traditional sense of man, are becoming obsolete in today’s modern society.
Raising awareness today of the lesser need for men can help men to become more aware and step up to help women out a bit more. There should be less unemployment among men and they should be helping with the home duties far more. In doing so, we could have happier, healthier relationships between the two.