The Daddy Revolution

Back when my parents were kids, and your parents were kids, things were a bit different.  Oh boy, you may be thinking, here we go again with the “Back in my day” crap.  Well let’s get one thing straight, Buster.  I’d like to talk to you about Title IX athletics, baby changing stations in men’s restrooms, and the glass ceiling in corporate America.  Still with me?  Cool.

Back when my parents were kids and your parents were kids, the number of girls involved in athletics paled in comparison to the number of boys participating in organized sports.  Conventional Wisdom held that girls were too delicate and dainty to get their hands dirty, and besides, somebody might get hurt!  Well along comes Title IX legislation in the 70’s and pushes CW on his ass.  The percentage of girls participating in sports has exploded, of course, since the metaphorical playing field has been leveled.  Granted, there have been myriad problems with implementing Title IX, often involving financial pain in the name of fair play, but it is difficult to argue with the positive results.

We now have girls’ hockey, girls’ volleyball, and girls’ softball teams.  Young women compete as wrestlers, discus throwers, and cross-country runners.  In the process of living up to Title IX, we have given generations of young women the self esteem and confidence to compete in the workforce and to enjoy healthier, happier lives.

So what does this have to do with baby changing stations in men’s rooms?  Informal polls taken by asking women and poking my head into ladies’ rooms (after knocking of course) reveal a clear gender bias when it comes to baby changing stations.  Conventional Wisdom, that many headed beast, roars that this is obviously because more women take care of children than men, so there should be three times as many changing stations for women as for men.  You’re way ahead of me, O Reader, so I won’t belabor the point, but I will say that I believe our institutions must reflect our ideals, and this goes for bathrooms as well as athletic departments.

I am certainly not demanding that we introduce legislation to mandate quotas of parity, I am simply suggesting that there is some truth in that Iowan mantra, “If you build it, they will come.” Ok, ok, so it’s a stretch, but let’s say you buy the argument that if men are institutionally encouraged to take a more active role in parenting, they will choose to do so in overwhelming numbers.  So what’s in it for me?

One of the reasons most often cited for the glass ceiling effect on women’s wages is that women are wont to disappear for several years to rear those pesky uneducated future workers known as babies.  The corporate ladder often does not reach as high, because many women hop off a rung and start again at the same rung or lower a few years later.  Now let’s say that current trends continue, and more and more men opt to spend time with their young families rather than racing rats in cubicle warrens.  This not only means that more men get to experience the chaotic peace of being a full time parent, but it means that the fairer sex gets a fairer shot at success in the world of work.  The glass ceiling will be blown off the penthouse when male CEO’s start taking three years off to raise their children, and twenty-something men work nights and weekends so that their wives can pursue their career goals.

Plus it’s a ton of fun to goof off all day.