I’m sure that everyone has had experience with “the battle of the sexes”, and no, I’m not talking about the board game. From corporate job positions to home life and parenthood, men and women seem to be in constant competition over who is superior in the role they are playing. There is most certainly an issue surrounding gender equality and work-home balance. The first resort whenever speaking about the work-home balance is to resort to the belief that women are given the worst hand possible, and men have a deck of aces and kings; and that it’s all men’s fault. For example, in his article “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All”, Richard Dormant informs that in most dual income houses, men and women work roughly the same amount; women having less workplace hours and more home hours, and men vise versa. Let’s be honest here and assess the grand fact that there are just as many struggles surrounding this topic for men as there are women, but on the flip side. Women often times struggle to climb up the corporate ladder, and find they have to do twice the work for half the credit. Whereas men often are victim to judgement for opting to be more involved in family and household affairs than work, or as Andrew Reiner put in, be emotionally in touch. The battle of the sexes has been here for generations; and it is both toxic and beneficial.
Ever since the beginning of man, there has been a constant battle of the sexes. Let’s go back all the way to the Mezatonian area; women were in power, then Christianity came along and men took over. Even if we just reduce this down to America, take a look at suffrage. Women fought for the right to vote and for probation, while some men fought with them, many fought against. Now I’m not saying all men are bad and all women are saints, in fact, women in certain situations, are just as guilty. It is standard to believe that women are the stay at home caregivers and men are the ones who “bring home the bacon.” Though most people want to eliminate this stigma, most people, including women, have a tendency to raise a brow when a man states that he is a stay at home dad.
On the toxic side I would like to incorporate an article written by Anne Marie Slaughter titled “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All.” In her article she states that women have to work harder to get to high level positions than men do, and that there are significantly less women in those same positions than men. In fact, during her TED Talk, Sheryl Sandberg (second in command at Facebook) explains that out of 150 heads of state, only nine are women. This is an obvious problem not only in the section of equality, but in the desire for equal representation in law and government.
On the other side of the battle of the sexes, I would argue that there is a benefit held within the arms of competition. Though the competition level is extremely uneven, it still instills the desire to improve within both sexes. I believe that healthy competition can improve workplace performance and skill overall. However, I do think that in order to be productive, this competition needs reformation. Specifically, the see-saw of competition needs to be even, meaning that men and women need to feel the same level of pressure to succeed within themselves and against others.
The battle of the sexes could theoretically be resolved in a variety of ways. In work protocols allowing women to take time off or leave work early because of her children without having to worry about being fired, should be developed. Additionally, we could make it mandatory in work environments that both women and men have enough flexibility in the schedule to spend time with their family. Doing these things would not only increase desirability of a workplace and overall employee happiness. But will increase the length of employment and thus loyalty and understanding of the company. Doing this would overall increase the quality of the companies working positions and the companies product.
However, I do not believe that it should be resolved… yet. Now I don’t mean I think workplace misogyny shouldn’t be resolved, or that women should have to work harder than men to get to the same place. What I mean is that the competition needs to change. We need time to create an in depth understanding of the issue in people. If we fail to ensure that understanding and appreciation, we will end up semi-solving the problem, momentarily. We can’t do a “half-assed” job on this one, we have to do it right; and that will take time, energy, and hard work.
Double Sided 