Men, We’ll Miss ‘Em

You may not have noticed, but women are now on top. They’re supporting their families during the recession, because they’re more flexible–they’re better at adapting to major changes in the economy and the culture. Is the recession really a "mancession?"

In the recession, three-quarters of the millions of jobs lost were lost by men. The worst-hit industries were overwhelmingly male, such as construction, manufacturing, and high finance. In 2009, for the first time in American history, the workforce tipped towards women, who continue to occupy around half of our nation’s jobs.

This is a worldwide phenomenon: Women in poor parts of India are learning English faster than men, to meet the demands of new global call centers. Women own more than 40% of private businesses in China. Icelanders made Johanna Sigurdardottir prime minister, electing the world’s first openly lesbian head of state.

But the recession merely revealed–and accelerated–a profound economic shift that has been going on for at least 30 years and in some respects even longer: For the first time in 200,000 years of human history, women have in many ways surpassed men, and there may now be no going back.

In the September 29the edition of the UK Observer, Hanna Rosin writes: "In the past, men derived their advantage largely from size and strength, but the post-industrial economy is indifferent to brawn. A service and information economy rewards precisely the opposite qualities–the ones that can’t be easily replaced by a machine. These attributes–social intelligence, open communication, the ability to sit still and focus–are, at a minimum, not predominantly the province of men. In fact, they seem to come easily to women."

Rosin asks: "(If) men (have) already been laid low by the recession of the 1990s, where are they now, nearly 20 years later, after this last series of blows? And how will they find their way back?"

Hey, on Dreamland, we do our part: We have wonderful female hosts like Anne Strieber and Marie D. Jones and we INTERVIEW fascinating women as well! (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to these female-driven shows).