We always hear about the glass ceiling, but we never hear about the glass cellar that keeps men trapped in the most dangerous, crappy jobs in our society. For example, 24 of the 25 worst jobs are occupied almost exclusively by men and all of the most dangerous, hazardous jobs are occupied almost exclusively by men. Also, 92% of all occupational deaths occur to men, and of the 15 industries actually projected to grow despite the recession, 13 are dominated by women. Be grateful that you'll never have to work in a warehouse that has no air conditioning in an Arizona summer when it's 115 degrees outside like thousands of men. My step-dad has skin cancer from a lifetime of driving a mixer truck and pouring concrete in AZ. My mom didn't contract cancer from her job--teaching elementary school. American society has a very biased and one-sided way of looking at gender. I would personally rather experience a glass ceiling than a glass cellar. At least with a glass ceiling I know my life won't be at risk. Also, women live on average 7 years longer than men. In 1920, women lived on average about 2 years longer. Guess what changed. I'll give you a hint: it's not biology.
Furthermore, here's an analogy for how American society looks at gender inequality. Let's say a man has 8 apples and the woman next to him has 5 apples. People see this and jump to the conclusion that the woman is disadvantaged and that she has fewer apples because of discrimination. However, some of us dig a little deeper to see what's really going on and, when we do, we discover that 6 of the man's 8 apples are rotten, they're of no use to him. This leaves him with only 2 good apples. However, the woman only has 1 rotten apple, which leaves her with 4 good apples. This means that, in all actuality, she has it twice as good as the man, even though on the surface it seems like she has it worse. This is pretty much what's going on in our society now. Well, in the U.S., anyway. I can't speak for other nations. The numbers used in this analogy are, of course, irrelevant. The point is that women actually have it better than men now, even though it sometimes seems like we don't, and there is quite a bit of evidence that shows this. However, it's not politically fashionable to discuss this evidence, and it doesn't make headlines because it doesn't elicit fear. Fear sells the news. It is politically fashionable, though, to view women as victims and men as the "evil oppressors with their evil penises of death," and negatively stereotyping men in the media elicits fear, which sells the news.
Now, I know what you're probably thinking, "Hey, wait a minute. Don't women earn less money?" Well, yes and no. While the Census Bureau does report that women earn 80% of what men earn, this is a raw figure and makes no attempt to isolate such variables as field, subfield, years of experience, etc. In fact, the Census Bureau makes no mention of this being for "same work," "equal work," or "comparable work" (all three terms have a slightly different meaning, yet are used interchangeably). The Census Bureau also reports that never married men, who don't have children, are college educated, and work full time actually make 85% of what their female counterparts make. The Census Bureau also reports that, when it comes to part-time work, women make 110% of what their male counterparts make. So, again, do women earn less? It depends. However, that's not an easy answer and most Americans want easy answers. And, of course, claiming that women earn 80 cents for every dollar a man makes (which is actually a manipulation of the statistic) helps paint women as victims and men as "evil oppressors with their evil penises of death."
