Title: The death of Macho
Author: Reihan Salam
Date: 2008
Topic: A Shift of Power Over Time
According to
the author,Reihan Salam, male dominance is beginning to decline. Male dominance
has been declining in the West. However, the economic problems caused by the
great recession, have speeded up the process. “More than 80% of job losses in the
United States since November have fallen on men, according to the U. S. Bureau
of Labor statistics.” At the same time, women are becoming more and more
educated. This shift in power will force men to accept women in positions of
power at the work place. The collapse in the housing market put many lower
skilled males like construction workers out of work. Jobs in construction and
manufacturing won’t disappear,but they will make up a smaller percentage of the
economy. Western countries are somewhat more open to allow women into positions
of power. This is not the case in most third world countries like Asia, Russia,
and the Middle East. With this great recession women have suffered more than
men because they tend to get paid less and have less economic control.
In the past,
for example, in the Great Depression men wanted to be the breadwinners and
women were kept out of the work force. I think because of the industrialization
of the world there are more jobs available. In turn there are more appliances available
to women to make their lives easier. We have ovens, stoves, refrigerators,
washing machines, and mass manufacturing of clothing. All of the wars in the nineteen
hundreds caused women to pick up the slack and work outside of the home. In
1920 women were first allowed to vote here in the United States of America.
Women have
gradually become more educated. In fact, more women graduate from college than
do men. More opportunities have opened up to them. With more financial
instability all over the world, combined with women’s greater access to
education, change is bound to happen. These changes are happening more quickly
in the western world. Even so, change is beginning to happen like in India. People
are beginning to question the old concepts of a woman’s place in society. Today
it is just as likely that the woman is the bread winner. Some men will embrace
women as equals while others will resist change.
I think
that the movement towards women’s equality will take place at a much slower
rate in third world countries. There are many countries in which the female has
been in a subordinate position for thousands of years. Today’s battlefield will
take place culturally. In non western countries this will take a long time
because of the weight of tradition. The more educated that men and women become
the more that they will realize that they are equal in every way. As women
become more financially powerful this will decrease the burden on men
economically. If men don’t have to carry women around economically there will
be less friction between the sexes.
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