Who REALLY has it easier?

February 21, 2011

I haven't blogged in 13 days now.  In every other writers' mind, that would be considered procrastination for sure!  However, I am new to the writing world so I will call it prolonged writers block.  :-)  Anyways, I was reading an article today on Oprah.com about a woman going through what she called a "mid-wife crisis."  And it got me thinking about the many transitional points that are significant in womens' lives.

It may just be me, but don't men seem to go through life as effortlessly as a bird gliding through the sky in flight?  Hitting life's ups and downs with effortless confidence, and constantly taking their goals to the next level?  Granted that's not all men, but the fact of the matter is even in 2011, it is still a man's world.  And many men will tell you that women are the ones that have it easy.  Au contraire, my male friends. 

Aren't women the ones who are expected to "have it all?"  We get to give birth to children, have our periods for approximately 30-35 years, go through about a decade of menopause and night sweats, raise the children we sometimes regrettably decided to bear, and oh I almost forgot...try to actually have the time to salvage a career identity through all of this, albeit still in a man's world!  Men, in all their sometimes annoying simplicity, have to just go to work and try to do a good job.  That is where nearly all of their identity is wrapped around.  No men, I'm sorry to tell you the sad truth, but you are the ones who have it easy.  I'm not saying that your job itself is easy.  I'm simply pointing out that you are not expected to become "Super Perfecto Gal" at five endeavors at one time.   I'm kind of glad that my entire identity is not wrapped around what I do for a living because unlike women, when men retire and realize their purpose in life is over...they want to kill themselves.  LOL!  Must be why us women live longer than they do.

Women definitely have the upper hand in terms of living full, well-rounded lives.  But getting back to the mid-wife crisis, I think the expectations on women today are too much.  This causes many women to become resentful later in life, whether it be toward their husbands, children, or even friends or co-workers.  After all ladies, don't we just want to be appreciated and loved by those closest to us?  When all is said and done though, we women are tough old birds.  We may not all be worthy of the top of the corporate world from a male point of view, but we can certainly conquer anything that is thrown our way.  We don't have the male ego weighing us down every day, holding us back from pursuing what we know to be morally right and worthy of changing the world for the better.  Oh and for all the men ou there that think most women are nothing but gold-diggers, ask yourself this... Do you think your wife could do YOUR job better, given her outstanding multi-tasking and communication skills? 

...Are men REALLY more talented than women in most jobs?  Or are women still expected to focus their talents in traditional roles.....Since change is scary for most, I have a feeling this debate will go on for a long, LONG time.   Peace!!