A Woman's World

A new book by Liza Mundy, The Richer Sex, reveals that over 40% of women in America now earn more than their husbands, and that by 2030 that number is expected to top 50%, primarily because far more women are college-educated than men, and among graduate programs, women now comprise 60% of the student body.  In short, more men are becoming less-educated while women are becoming more highly-trained, wealthier, and more empowered.

I've known this for a long time, however.

I've been in one of those marriages where, whenever my wife has worked full time, she has always been the principal breadwinner.  Naturally, being a pastor, this is not difficult to do, but since the advent of my wife's return to school for a second undergraduate degree, a subsequent master's, and now a post-master's certification program, my wife has nearly doubled my college education in number of years (and I have a 3-year master's from Duke!).  She's not only more intelligent than I am (by far) but she's also more educated and up-to-date in her training.

I am a dinosaur . . . and the only thing I have to offer in this new woman's world is my ability to cut wood and haul gravel.  And if it weren't for my wife's advanced age, I think she could best me in these laborious activities also.  I rise early and work late . . . but most days she rises earlier and works later than I do!

My world is filled with women.  I work primarily with women.  My household is comprised of 50% estrogen . . . and if I count my eighteen-year-old son as half-a-man, I'm in the minority inside my own walls.  I've had a fair number of women bosses or supervisors over the years, and from what I read, by the time I die, more than half of the funeral directors in America will be female also.  Women will very likely dig my grave and dance on it.

It's a woman's world . . . though some might argue.  And if it's not a woman's world yet, it soon will be.

That's not all bad, I guess.  Men have had their crack at running the world for thousands of years.  Maybe it's time we placed the women in charge and let them fill potholes. 

I'm thankful for women.  And I've written several essays of late about the wonderful, remarkable, incredible power of women.  All from a man's perspective of course.

I'll keep writing about women . . . but I'm sure of this:  women will tell me if I don't know what I'm talking about.  Women are constantly correcting me.  

But they will have to forgive me if I'm a moron.  I am, after all, just a man.