The argument between Suzanne Venker and Michael Kimmel is one that makes the reader think and formulate their own opinion. Venker talks about “the war on men and how this new phenomenon has changed the dance between men and women”, whereas Kimmel gives a direct response, saying it to be “madness, and that there is no war on men.” I believe that the idea of “war” between men and women to be quite frankly ridiculous. In some ways I agree with Venker and in some ways I agree with Kimmel. Along the lines of what Venker has said, I think that the role of a women has changed. Over the last forty years women have significantly impacted the workforce. Times have changed, Venker is right on that. However, I do not think that by doing so, the relationship between men and women has suffered. I think that yes, there may be a little competition here and there with a job or a promotion, but I do not think that people should interpret it has a gender issue. People are people. In the category of people, there are men and women.
There should be no judgment.
However, that is not reality. There is a lot of unfairness and “not so right” decisions being made in the workplace among both men and women. All people have certain strengths and weaknesses. A lot of the decisions in the professional world are based on that, whether that includes a women being a mother as a weakness or a man being a father as a weakness. The fact of the matter is, that men may have a certain strength that women may not particularly have. And likewise. I am not saying that this is true for all occupations or people but in some aspects the role of man just sometimes fits and the role of a women just sometimes fits. It is how our society works right now. After reading these two articles, the idea of “war on men” is nonexistent. Like Kimmel said “The empirical evidence suggests that men are quietly adapting to a very new landscape. Most of the 400 young men who I interviewed for my book ‘Guyland’ assume, without resentment, that their wives will be as fully committed to their careers as they are.” Most men are accepting of women and most women are accepting of men. No one is at fault for anything. The times have simply changed and both men and women are and have been changing with it.
Although I too believe there isn't really much a war on men and disparity between men and women, the truth is there are still plenty of American women that don't ever want to marry because they hold some of these beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you made on the issue of job competition and that it shouldn't necessarily be a gender issue at all.But we also shouldn't judge people on the choices that they have decided to make. I do also agree that there is discrimination in the work force but it also goes both ways that men and women get discriminated against at times.
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