Writing for Foreign Policy, Reihan Salam makes the bold claim that the male created recession, or “he-cession,” will lead to the death of the “aggressive, risk-seeking behavior that has enabled men to entrench their power.” People will realize, says Salam, that “the cult of macho” is “destructive and unsustainable in a globalized world.”
The combined effects of the gradual shift in power from men to women and the fact that men lost the majority of jobs lost since November has led to the end of male dominance. Men have two choices, points out Salam. One, they could simply accept the equal partnership of women, or two, they could resist.
You won’t be surprised to learn that when faced with economic hardship men have historically chosen option number two. After the Soviet collapse, for example, Russian men increasingly turned to alcohol, leaving women to do the work.
Salam’s claim that the “axis of global conflict”–one found in hearts and minds, not on battlefields–will be gender is certainly uplifting. The death of macho, after all, will undoubtedly lead to more equality. However, one has to wonder just how quickly macho will die.
Source:Foreign Policy
Image by Elsie esq., licensed under Creative Commons.
