Essay Example on Gender Parity: The Emergence of Work-Life Balance

The arising controversies on gender parity have hit media pages for a long time. An emerging issue, in this case, is work-life balance. Women are no longer viewed as servants top their husbands, homemakers, and mothers. Their role is no longer in the kitchen. The main reason for this goes historically to the post-war period. During the war times, women helped in taking care of their homesteads and children. They would occasionally be asked to make meals and nurse wounds for the soldiers. However, after the war, the American Dream was initiated in which education was available for everyone. In the 1950s, ex-soldiers received housing benefits and learning programs alongside their wives. As a result, gender gaps started decreasing as women realized their potentials. In pursuit of career life, women have gained more relevance as men and have ventured into fields that were initially male-dominated, such as medicine, engineering, and technology. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the underlying work-life balance issues that encompass both men and women today regarding Richard Dorment's article, "Why Men Still Can't Have It All."

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Dorment defines having it all as something that you only feel and cannot be quantified. He further states that reaching such a point is almost impossible for both genders. However, what most couples yearn for is a 50-50 situation where housework and professional duties for either party are balanced. In such a situation, neither the man or the woman feels overloaded with work since the partner steps in to save the case. Current debates on this topic mention that there can never be a situation of having everything for men and women. However, what most people agree to be that women have to be offloaded of the housework chores while men have to be unloaded of their professional duties. For instance, if a woman spends 15 hours cleaning the house and attending to children while nine hours are spent at work, it is a total of 24 hours. Contrarily, if a man spent 13 hours at work and 11 hours at home, it is still considered 24 hours. However, in either case, there is no work-life balance. Therefore, if a man can spend more time with family and regular hours at work, this will help him balance between family and work. It is a similar situation with women. Notably, whenever a woman spends more time at home and less at work, the career life goes down despite the accolades they carry with them. It is such factors of disequilibrium that lead to meager payments for women in similar fields as men.

Edward Dorment draws real-life situations that are likely to occur, thus making it possible to draw accurate assumptions from the readers. A considerable situation is that of a woman in her twenties with a degree, a good job, yet has no husband or children. In this case, a woman is likely to grow her relevance in the career and ascend the ladder. She is determined to beat her male counterparts at work, and her determination lands her into managerial positions. Nonetheless, when this woman decides to settle down, everything she has harbored for many years starts to slur. She gets pregnant, bears children, and has to spend a lot of time, months, or years adjusting before getting back on the career line. When she gets back, her husband, probably in the same field, is miles away in career advancement. The husband, who now feels family needs have increased spent even more hours at work to support the financial requirements of his dependents. In so doing, he has little or no time for family. As Dorment discusses, this is a work-life imbalance. What is next? Shall couples agree that a woman's position is in the kitchen in the 21st Century? Women have come out to defend their positions in society. With the examples of Ann Marie Slaughter and Hillary Clinton. They are determined to achieve equal positions. For Clinton to participate in national politics, it was an essential step of confidence. She intends not just to win but to show that women can make it just like men. In as much as she lost the elections, it was worth trying.

As Dorment describes, many of the inequalities in society result from men who fear being replaced. Dorment tames his audience with the rational ideas he uses to describe situations where a lady is single and working, a married woman, working couples, and a location where one parent is working. The descriptions suit the everyday situations of American families, thus taming the reader's mind. They are vulnerable to their positions and would not appreciate being ruled by a woman. The egocentric creatures will thus fail any debates to pass equality laws or bills in the National Assembly. However, whereas being recognized by the government may seem like a future dream, there is hope for women to change their positions and create equality. For instance, encouraging working couples to develop a calendar to share family responsibilities seems like a bright 21st-century idea. Men will be more involved in family affairs while women will get equal chances to polish their careers. In the end, it is expected that such couples will be happy. However, Dorment states that 87% of these women will be more comfortable than their male counterparts, thus winning the gender parity goal.

Conclusion

Conclusively, gender parity issues can be won mentally. It is the role of men to drop their egos and agree to find happiness in doing things that their families love. Changing the mindset of a man may be difficult, yet it is possible and necessary. If a man wakes up from the stereotypes of laziness and always being the head, 60 % of American households will report more work-life balance implying achievement of gender parity as one of the contents in r5he American Dream. In Dorment's thoughts, it is agreeable that men are the primary reason for inequalities that exist. They are afraid of losing positions to women they have despised since eternity. Therefore a call for change begins with men changing their mindsets and women advocating for equality through action and civic education. Thus, the reason why men can't have it all, that is family and career trails back to the post-war times when women were enlightened on education.