There's been a lot of articles and commentary attacking the main points behind the End of Men trends. A good example is The End of Men, Revisited in the New York Times.
It summarizes several articles critical of the End of Men thesis as well as an American Association of University of Women study that shows among recent college graduates men out earn women by 7%.
Other critics point to the lack of women in C suite jobs or in elected positions.
I agree with these critics, but also think they miss the point.
Yes, men out number women in positions of power. And yes, men still out earn women. And yes, much still needs to be done in terms of overall equality of the sexes.
But the trends around the problems men and boys are having are overwhelming. Whether it's addiction rates, incarceration rates or education rates, I don't see how you can look at the data without coming to the conclusion men and boys are in trouble.
Even worse, these problems seem to be accelerating. In particular, the relative lack of educational achievement is going to make it very hard for many men to be successful economically going forward. The societal damage this will cause will be significant.
So to me the key point is not where men are today, but where they will be tomorrow (and in 10 or 20 years). And it doesn't look good.
So instead of denying there are problems, we should be trying to figure out how to fix them.
I think what's key here is not thinking in terms of competition - men vs. women - but in terms of helping others succeed. We shouldn't want to see anyone struggling, whether it's men, women, minorities, etc. And if there's a population group that's in trouble, we should do what we can to help them succeed. (For the record, I'm not in favor of making it easier for men to get good grades or nice jobs, but giving boys the tools they need to learn, grow, make better choices, etc.)
Posted by: Bill Kerschbaum | November 01, 2012 at 06:56 AM