ROGER SAUVÉ – Life Trends – Facts And Figures That Matter to You – Life is changing for both men and women
Bob Dylan released “The Times They are a-Changin” in 1964. He was right at the time. Some four decades later, the change continues.
My new report, Canadian Gender Realities 2010, compares men and women across most aspects of life. Taken as a whole, the trends paint a picture of rapid change over the last several decades. What men, but especially women, are doing today is a far cry from the situation a generation ago.
There has been a major re-definition of the “roles” of men and women. The stereotype of men in the paid work force with women at home throughout the child-raising years, or even over a lifetime, is largely a thing of the past. The vast majority of women are now in the paid work force while fewer men are. Dual-incomes are now the norm.
Women are becoming the major wage earner in more and more couple families. In spite of this, it is still women who do the majority of the juggling between family care and paid work.
Women have clearly taken much more control of their own lives. This is especially so for those below the age of 35 but it is also very apparent among older age groups. This is evident relative to increasing levels of education, greater participation in the job market, higher earnings and in delaying childbirth. Women continue to have stronger social support systems and friends than do men. Women experience the impact of change more than men do.
Men do better financially than do women, but the gap is closing slowly. Men spend more hours at paid work and earn more money per hour doing it. Young men live more dangerous lives, binge more and are more likely to suffer the negative consequences as seen in mortality statistics. Sports are more important to men. Based on government surveys, men are just a bit happier and are less stressed. Men place significantly less importance on religion than do women.
There is clearly more equality than in the past. The areas of study and occupations reveal shifts away from traditional expectations … for both. More women are doing more of what men used to do and more men are doing more of what women used to do.
A detailed table of contents covering the 63 trends in the full report, Canadian Gender Realities 2010, is available on my website below.
Roger Sauvé is President of People Patterns Consulting (www.peoplepatternsconsulting.com). Roger is an economist and demographer and lives in Summerstown Ontario.
I read a report that referenced Stats Canada that in spite of two salaries, families have less disposable income than they did in the 1970s. Could we infer that once more women joined the workforce that salaries overall decreased?
It would be interesting to look at some of the causes to this effect that has been presented. I feel changes in our school system do not help young males and in turn, they get turned off higher education.
Boys are not allowed to be boistrous to get out the agressions implanted to our genes for example. Contact sports are not encouraged and even frowned on. Snowballs, oh you can’t throw that, someone may lose an eye.
Salarys are often not comparing apples to apples in my opinion. But one reason for less money could be length of time in the workforce. Women need time off to have babies, and the babies need the nurturing. Less time struggling up the ladder can translate into fewer promotions. I also believe if we had one parent in the home more, better citizens could be raised.
Both parents working is now the norm, probably because of taxation and wanting the new next thing, or bigger house or ?.