The end of the era of men?

HAS the era of men ended? For more than six centuries of human society, men have dominated. Now there is a notion that this is about to come to an end.

This would come as a surprise to most women, since they earn less, work more and generally have poorer jobs than men. The government is passing the Gender Equity Bill, which seeks to intervene to correct this imbalance.

Internationally, the statistics suggest some remarkable changes are under way. In most developed nations, women at university significantly outnumber men.

The changing nature of society has been signalled by an interesting book, The End of Men, and the Rise of Women, by Hanna Rosin, who points out how fast things are changing. Her statistics are focused mainly on the US, but the general trend is international, from the number of Indian women learning English to the majority of women in Rwanda’s parliament.

The tipping point was that in 2009, there were as many women as men in the US workforce. The average US woman now contributes 43.3% of her family’s income, an astounding increase from the 2%-6% women contributed in the 1970s. Women outnumber men in getting bachelor degrees by three to two.

Women still get paid less on average, and are still underrepresented at the pinnacle of business and wealth, but they have started to dominate many professions that fall outside the traditional male preserve of manufacturing. As manufacturing moves to the developing world, men are losing out. More than that, the modern economy seems more compatible with feminine skills: flexibility, adaptability, empathy, patience and communal problem-solving. Men, by comparison, are stuck in a rut and unable to adapt to the service economy.

This is all very tantalising, but is it desirable? The answer is yes and no. For men, it may be a relief to cast off the burden of being the breadwinner. But that means women will have to pick it up; great in theory, less appetising in practice. Many women in SA are already breadwinners, by no means voluntarily. But, for some couples, this new scenario of the seesaw marriage, with one or the other alternating as a breadwinner, could be a boon. Whatever the case, this is not a trend marketers, politicians and business in general can ignore.