7 Reasons Men Threatened by “Women Power!”
“Men are losing their grip,” writes Jennifer Homans in her New York Times review of The End of Men and Rise of Women, Hanna Rosin’s bestseller. “Patriarchy is crumbling. We are reaching ‘the end of 200,000 years of human history and the beginning of a new era’ in which women, and womanly skills and traits, are on the rise.” Warning guys, this is the last gasp of your male-dominated patriarchy.
More women will lead in the future. And men hate that, are trapped in the past, as the presidential campaign made clear. Men live in fear, driven by primitive tribal urges to hold onto ancient symbols of power, resist being controlled by women. Unfortunately, they’re losing.
Like Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Even more than chasing hot market tips, today’s men frantically search for past glory … in purple pills for erectile dysfunction, low-testosterone, anti-aging cosmetics, magic solutions to belly fat … playing fantasy football over a six-pack in their man-cave … fighting for open-carry … joining militias … reliving the 19th century Wild Wild West … hero worship icons like John Wayne … yearning for more of the good old days when old-guy paternalism ruled.
Even today’s conservative war on women, their obsessive drive to control women’s reproductive rights, comes from deep in the collective conscious of the male brain, as men feel threatened by this historic power shift. Yes, “a new matriarchy is emerging” says Homans. “For the first time in history, the global economy is becoming a place where women are finding more success than men … run by young, ambitious, capable women … taking matters into their own hands.”
But the real tragedy is that today’s threatened male ego is also sabotaging America’s economy and our status as a world power. How? By fighting a losing battle to hold onto the old vestiges of their ancient macho-dominated patriarchy, the weak male ego is making matters worse, manifest in the GOPs seeming endless, self-destructive, do-nothing partisan political wars that at their core simply confirm how patriarchy is crumbling. First, their eight-year long childish strategy opposing and bullying a black male president. Now they fear a woman could win the presidency, lead America till 2024. No wonder the ancient male brain is in panic survival mode.
Seven Reasons
The New Power of Women Threatens Men!
Yes, history is changing, fast: There were only four women in my University of Virginia Law School graduating class. Now over half are women. Same with other professions. So here’s how we see the single biggest global trend that’s defining the 21st century: How women are replacing men as leaders in America and around the world. Here’s a summary of the seven elements of this rapidly emerging trend as identified in Fortune, The New York Times, Time magazine, money manager Jeremy Grantham and other sources:
1. Women’s Brains Naturally Wired Strategic Thinkers!
Evolution wired women with a huge advantage. Men’s brains are handicapped. Here’s how billionaire, philanthropists and money manager Jeremy Grantham put it: Our male-dominated patriarchal culture has created “an army of left-brained immediate doers.” Wall Street, Corporate America and Silicon Valley’s social-media commandos all think short term, substantially discounting longer-term social costs, like climate change and resource depletion. They ignore the reality that we’re living on a planet incapable of feeding the 10 billion predicted within a generation. The short-term thinking brains of our male-dominated capitalist world (closing process, quarterly earnings, annual bonuses) are not psychologically wired to solve the world’s bigger long-term problems. The female brain is better designed.
2. New Economy Jobs Favor Women, Level Playing Field
Men raised in macho cultures with traditional values feel even more threatened as women gain equality and power. As Homans put it in the Times: “The end of men is really the end of a manufacturing-based economy.” Six million lost jobs since 2000, mostly men, creating a vacuum. As a result, “a new matriarchy is emerging: For the first time in history, the global economy is becoming a place where women are finding more success than men … run by young, ambitious, capable women … taking matters into their own hands.”
Forget politics, this is the “new service economy, which doesn’t care about physical strength,” demanding skills that “come easily to women.” Our educational system is preparing a new generation of women leaders: “Today 50% more women get college degrees, so even if fewer women are at the top, they are beginning to dominate professions like accounting, financial management, optometry, dermatology, forensic pathology and veterinary practices.”
3. Women Gaining Power Positions in Corporate America
Last year Fortune magazine’s list of “The 50 Most Powerful Women” revealed that when the list was launched in 1998 there were only two women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Today, there are 19 women CEOs, at giants like IBM, PepsiCo, Xerox, Kraft and DuPont. Plus “more women wield more power than at any point in history,” including many “guiding the future of the global economy,” like IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel.
4. More Women Elected to Legislatures Across America
Males believe they still have power, in running the federal government. That delusion is disappearing, threatening male politicians as well as male carpenters. The National Foundation for Women Legislators says: “The greatest rising force in American politics today is not a political party, nor is it the lobbying community, it is women.” In the early 1980s “women held a mere 10% of all state legislative seats in the country, today they hold 24% of 7,382 seats nationwide. Currently 17 women serve in the U.S. Senate and 73 serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.” Plus six women are state governors. By 2050, women will be the power majority.
5. More Women Leading Governments Across The World
Yes, the trend is sweeping the world. In “The Case for Optimism” about our future, Bill Clinton’s Time magazine feature a couple years ago, he said the “world is getting better all the time,” citing five ways, including technology, health care, green energy. His fourth key: “Women Rule.” Worldwide, women now make up 20% of elected legislators, almost double 15 years ago: “This is good news, not only for the individuals themselves but also for entire societies.” Why? “It’s been proven that women tend to reinvest economic gains back into their families and communities more than men do.” Men tend to narcissism. Yes, women not only think different from men, they think better, strategic, long-term.
6. Women Are New Leaders in the “Fight for The Future”
While so many men still resist, others are teaming up with women, equals working together. Here is Clinton’s fifth reason for optimism: “Justice, The Fight for the Future.” Until recently “the future has never had a big enough constituency.” But things are changing, rapidly, because the survival of the planet requires new thinking, new strategies. Women get it. They are taking the lead. Clinton says we must “create a whole different mind-set. We are in a pitched battle between the present array of resources and attitudes and the future struggling to be born.”
7. Macho Men Sabotaging Own Future, Defending Patriarchy
This cultural war reveals how men are, unfortunately, their own worst enemy, desperately trying to hold onto power, and sabotaging their future. Look beyond the so-called “war on women” rhetoric in the political arena where men fight to control women and women’s issues. Statistically they’re out of touch with most Americans. Fighting a losing battle.
Yin=Yang!
New Woman’s Spirit, Rising Strong, Balancing All Life
But look deeper into the brains of these male politicians. They are frightened little boys who feel threatened at a deep subconscious gut level. So they react, double down, fight harder to go back to an old familiar power structure where Old Guys Rule, controlling women’s reproductive rights and more.
No, we can’t go back. Why? Because a huge cultural tidal wave is sweeping both men and women in its historic path. Yes, “men are losing their grip … patriarchy is crumbling … we are reaching ‘the end of 200,000 years of human history … the beginning of a new era’ in which women, and womanly skills and traits, are on the rise.” It is time men wake up to the power shift. No one can stop this historic shift, for the new economy just keeps empowering more women, preparing them for the future. Wake up guys … before it’s too late for you … for America … for the world.
