The End of Men: And the Rise of Women in Our Shared Shelf

Nov 21, 2012 Lacey Louwagie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, feminism

A few days ago, Ivan asked me how that "book about women taking over the world" turned out (he listened to some of it in my car with me when we drove to my parents' for Thanksgiving). For a moment, it took me a while to figure out what he was talking about ... I was trying to remember some sci-fi I'd read about women taking over. Then I realized he was talking about THIS book.

Which brings me to the first issue with this book, which is its title: "The End of Men and the Rise of Women." It really A few days ago, Ivan asked me how that "book about women taking over the world" turned out (he listened to some of it in my car with me when we drove to my parents' for Thanksgiving). For a moment, it took me a while to figure out what he was talking about ... I was trying to remember some sci-fi I'd read about women taking over. Then I realized he was talking about THIS book.

Which brings me to the first issue with this book, which is its title: "The End of Men and the Rise of Women." It really bothers me because a) it's so sensationalized and b) it perpetuates this myth that in order for one sex to succeed, the other must fail, which is probably one of the most dangerous myths when it comes to sexism out there. It's a logical fallacy much like the idea that gay marriage somehow "threatens" straight marriage. Um, actually, no, both can work. In the same way, women's success does not mean men's failure; just that there's more opportunity for success in the world in general.

Despite the title, though, the book doesn't really take the "for one to succeed, the other must fail" approach. At the beginning, Hanna asserts that she is "neither a feminist or anti-feminist," although if the latter is true, I wish she wouldn't have made so many insulting statements about feminists, such as that they "preferred" a story where women were failing. I think feminists are vigilant about not becoming complacent about women's place in the world -- not emotionally invested in the idea that women are still "the second sex."

So, now that I've got the book's flaws out of the way, this was an absolutely fascinating read. And I could forgive some of Hanna's annoying statements about feminists because, for the most part, her book really does feel "agenda-less," an examination of case studies and larger trends outlining how the world is changing for women and for men. In particular, she looks at how women have been much more resilient in the floundering economy and are beginning to become more educated and higher earning than men for the first time in history. She also notes how the traits that are becoming most desirable in our service-based economy (vs. production based) are generally more cultivated in women -- communication, caution, compassion, etc. This makes it possible that a new era may be on the horizon, one in which it makes financial sense for the woman to be the primary breadwinner and the man the primary caretaker. I don't think this is problematic in and of itself, although Hanna seems slightly alarmed by it. A world in which women focus on their careers and men do more caretaking doesn't seem like an intrinsically bad place, as long as children are still properly nurtured and both roles receive equal respect within the family and within society at large (which, of course, they don't currently, which is one reason that I think men are reluctant to fill the role of primary caregiver.)

She talks a lot about how, throughout history, women have been more "adaptable" than men, and how one of the reasons that men are floundering now is because they've failed to adapt to the changing world at the pace that women have. While Hanna seems to think this might be an intrinsic trait for women, it seems much more likely that it's merely a sign of women being the minority for most of history; it's always easier for the minority to adapt to the majority's expectations than the other way around, and I think that's what we're seeing now.

The book challenges some commonly held assumptions about women and men, too, such as that men are "naturally" more violent. She cites evidence that, as women gain power, their capacity for violence also rises. I prefer the idea that violence is not intrinsic to either sex, since that makes it harder to excuse, and perhaps easier to minimize in our society.

All of this would have chafed me a little as not showing "the whole picture" if Hanna didn't examine the other side at length -- that women are still paid less than their male counterparts, that asking for a raise or promotion can devastate a woman's career while it has positive effects on a man's, that jobs primarily done by women become less valued by society, and that top positions and technology are still overwhelmingly dominated by men.

I wish she would have examined how media has responded to the shifting sex dynamics in our culture, but that may be a subject for another book. As it is, this book provides LOTS of food for thought, and is thankfully not as alarmist as the title implies. ...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Brian rated it liked it

(3.0) Yet another journalist who stretches article into "book"

I think I agree with much of Rosin's assessment of the status of women today, so it's not that I don't like what she has to say at all. It's just that she really stretched hard to fill a book here. Particularly in the early chapters, we're just hearing anecdote after pop culture reference and the evidence is quite thin (and she's making arguments that could be backed by evidence, research, heck at least surveys).

But she definitely red ...more

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