What if men could get pregnant?
http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/article/691/debate-what-if-men-could-get-pregnant
Hanna Rosin seems to write "The End of Men" with the assumption that staying at home to raise children is frequently a restricting obligation, not a source of life happiness. In her descriptions, rather than with the growth of a centered, loving family, freedom and contentedness seem to be associated with a powerful, personal career. In "The End of Men" Rosin cites Heather Boushey of the Center for American Progress: "this idealized family - he works, she stays home - hardly exists anymore" (Rosin 12). It seems that as one's career has become synonymous with one's identity, or sense of progress, women have become increasingly resentful of staying at home. This is seen statistically, when she says that "In 1970, 84 percent of women ages 30-43 were married; now 60 percent are" (Rosin 12).
Harris' article made me realize how much responsibility is out on women with the simple fact that women can get pregnant and men can't. In recent years, and in Rosin's article, childcare is perceived as more of a burden than a blessing. Throughout history, women have been naturally compelled to defy the "stay-at-home" conventions that come with marriage and, later, childbirth. In "Against Love Poetry," Eavan Boland expresses a woman's inclination to love "idea of women's freedom" stating that "marriage is not freedom" (Boland Lines 2-4). Rosin's article describes this sentiment taken to the extreme, where more and more female females are going into the workforce and "forgoing marriage altogether" (Rosin 12).
Harris' article proposes the hypothetical effects of a world with male and female pregnancy. She argues that if not half, but the entire population had to deal with childbirth, a completely different culture would emerge, one with true gender equality. She says, "If men across the world were concerned with juggling work and birth, these priorities could become relevant to everyone, and dealt with as a serious priority." If men were subject to childbirth, much more attention would be paid to the process (we'd spend more developing pain relief for birth, create more substantial maternity/paternity leaves, and generally put more focus on rearing children). With this larger emphasis, childbirth and family life might find a larger place in our modern idea of a "successful life." Harris cites Dr. Caroline Gatrell, an expert in parental bodies and the sociology of childbirth and senior lecturer at Lancaster University, who says "In many ways it would be the biggest - and perhaps best - social revolution that we've ever had."
I know that this is completely abstract/impossible to imagine, but I think that it is really interesting to picture the implications that childbirth places on the female sex. If, theoretically, both males and females could carry children, the discrepancies that are at the root of so many gender issues, would be made obsolete.
