The May 30 edition of The Economist leads with a provocative, informative and instructive article, heralding “social change” the like of which the world has not seen since decolonization and desegregation during the 1960s.
The change in this case referred to the way women are poised to dominate the ranks of traditional professions; so much so that it would soon be fair to analogize the representation of women in law, dentistry, accounting, and pharmacy to that of Blacks in the NBA and NFL. And it’s only a matter of time before women and Blacks dominate the top positions as well, respectively.
With all due respect to The Economist, however, the media have been replete in recent years with stories about young women replacing middle-aged (mostly White) men in professional workplaces across the globe. Less covered, but no less transformative, is the way technology is making middle-aged men in blue-collar jobs not only redundant but also unemployable.
Which explains this:
Over the last two decades, it’s men without college degrees who have ended up most disconnected from the core institutions of work, marriage, and civil society. Guess who is most likely to kill themselves? Men without college degrees.
(The Atlantic, May 13, 2013)
Actually, this unfolding reversal of gender roles was clear for any college student to see as early as the 1980s. Not least because, even though boys always had the most to say in all of my classes, girls always ended up with the best grades.
Unlike most of my male contemporaries, I wholly embraced female empowerment. In fact, I was quite unabashed in championing it as soon as I had a public platform to do so – as such commentaries as “Men Should Be Barred from Politics,” September 25, 2013, attest.
There was this, for example:
In light of the recent trend set by Angela Merkel of Germany and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Bachelet’s election would be encouraging to those of us who welcome the seepage of womanpower through the crevices of political and corporate governance around the world…
Here’s to ‘the fairer sex’ – not only as indispensable guardians of home and hearth, but also as invaluable (and capable) stewards of the ship of state!
(“Cracking the Glass Ceiling: First Woman to Become President in South America,” The iPINIONS Journal, December 12, 2005)
Now, lest you begin feeling sorry for these endangered species, bear in mind that middle-aged men can avail themselves of many continuing education and/or re-training opportunities that could lead to gainful employment. Only willful ignorance or foolish pride prevents them from doing so.
Moreover, here is the dispassionate but correct way The Economist distilled the transformative challenge this reversal of gender roles presents:
Women have learned that they can be surgeons and physicists without losing their femininity. Men need to understand that traditional manual jobs are not coming back, and that they can be nurses or hairdressers [or stay-at-home dads/househusbands] without losing their masculinity.
I hope they man up and rise to the occasion.
In the meantime, here’s to the stronger sex:“You’ve come a long way, baby,” now has real meaning.
Related commentaries:
Glass ceiling…