Oh to be a Soccer Mom

Last week's Economist did an article explaining how within the next couple months, the number of working women will for the first time outnumber the men in the US workforce. More women than men! Women have already considerably outnumbered men in professional services for several years now. But the entire workforce - that's a huge milestone. This sociological change has been expedited by a couple of seminal points, amongst others:
- In the recession of the past two years, far far more men lost their jobs than women
- Far far more women are graduating college with better academic standing than men

Delta and I had been talking about this phenomenon, the monumental sociological implications it has, and what if anything we thought might change in our own workplaces. There's lots of theories about the intrinsically feminine qualities that women bring to the workplace, and several theorists who expound on why women make better bosses than men.

I'm not sure I buy that really, about women making better bosses than men. At least from my own meagre experience, I'd put women vs men bosses down as pretty equal, even if perhaps different. But it doesnt change the fact that on average, far more women than men are successfully graduating through the education system and emerging on the other end, fit and primed to work. Which probably means, if we extrapolate this into the future, that the trend and momentum only seems set to increase.

The most remarkable thing, the Economist remarked, was how rapidly, and yet how smoothly (or at least with relatively little turmoil) this enormous sociological change took place. And I'd have to agree.

Overall, I'd have to say men have been rather gracious in ceding dominance towards a more egalitarian society - in the US, anyway. It takes a generosity of mind and spirit to offer jobs that have always been yours to the ambitious 'other sex'. I was still mulling over the gentlemanly graciousness of men when we went over to the Cos and his wife's house for dinner.

The Cos and his wife are both medical doctors, about to embark on their long and fruitful careers in the city. I was about to ask them what they thought about all this men-women business, when the Cos helped himself to a large glass of wine and announced, "Phew! I'm so glad my wife's a doctor! Now I can happily retire and be a house husband."
"What do you mean?!" I laughed, taken somewhat by surprise.
"Man, I'm all ready to get myself a minivan and just be a Soccer Mom!" he said, laughing.

And there you have it. The graciousness of men. Knew there had to be something more there.