From: CurtAdams@aol.com
Date: Sat Apr 05 1997 - 10:17:20 MST
Robin Hanson writes:
>Now if we all knew that we were moving to a future with no substantial
>correlation between sex and roles in society, it would be wrong and
>unfair to train people for old sex roles. But this may not be our
>future. Maybe our genetic heritage implies that the sexes differ in
>what they *want*, such as perhaps women enjoying child rearing more.
>So the big questions are: what do we want, and what can we expect?
My big beef with current equalization of sex roles is that while women are
encouraged to take on traditionally male roles of laborer and competitor, men
are not encouraged to take on traditionally female roles of homemaker and
conciliator. While I'm pretty neutral on who does what, I worry about a
society short of homemakers and conciliators.
I have a pretty laissez-faire attitude towards societally-chosen sex roles.
Like it or not, questions of what we want and expect in this category are
very complex, and with the 30-40 year lag time it takes a lot of time to
resolve. This is one of those cases where if the information isn't in yet,
you can't make a good decision. If sex roles are to change significantly,
for whatever reason, it's going to take a century or so of "settling out" to
adjust to the new situation.
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