Great article! I have to say I do still think this is all a little ridiculous. Women are dominating very few fields. As the article says, "Near the top of the jobs pyramid, of course, the upward march of women stalls. Prominent female CEOs, past and present, are so rare that they count as minor celebrities." Even in professions men are supposedly not "suited for," they always seem to hold the highest positions.
Here's an example: females make up a very small percentage of restaurant chefs. You can even see this reflected on the food network. The female chefs that come to mind include Rachel Ray (30 Minute Meals) and Sandra Lee (Semi-Homemade Cooking). Obviously, they are not portraying females as highly-skilled chefs. Check out the list of chefs and programs: http://www.foodnetwork.com/chefs/index.html. The number of shows hosted by women with "easy" or something about home in the title is mind-blowing. Other examples include teaching (women are elementary school teachers while men are college professors) and the medical field (women are nurses, men are doctors). Of course, these are generalizations, but I really don't think women are climbing the ranks and reversing roles so quickly as "The End of Men" claims.
Leigha, the women-making-cooking-easy thing is a really good example of pretty insidious sexism that never really registered with me. And Feministing explores the dearth of women in certain fields in their response to the Atlantic piece here. They also raise a couple of other really interesting points.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah, this does raise some really great points. And I must admit I'm glad someone said that picture looked like a "falling erection" and it wasn't just me!
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