Feminism: The Unknown Progressive Triumph

Kay Steiger points to a survey of Match.com users indicating, among other things, relatively egalitarian views about the appropriate division of childrearing labor between men and women. Steiger argues:

Though the survey is far from hard-hitting science, since it relies on a self-selected sample of users of one particular dating service, it does suggest some changing attitudes among people who are interested in dating. The fact that more men and women are both indicating shifting attitudes from what was standard in the 1950s and '60s means that at least to some degree, the idea of gender equality — also known as feminism — is working. True, we haven't yet reached the point at which all men and women agree child rearing isn't mainly the responsibility of the woman, but we are at a point where nearly half of women believe that and a significant portion of men do.

I agree. And I think that to a remarkable extent the entire revolution in gender roles that's unfolded over the past 40-50 years tends to go missing in a lot of (especially male) recitations of progressive woe. But this is kind of a big deal. You shouldn't say to yourself "40 years of stagnating median wages are okay because now women have many more career opportunities" but you should at least recognize that this combination reflects a really increase in life opportunities for the majority of people. And one should recognize more broadly that the feminist social revolution introduces some discontinuities into our economic data. When rich lawyers start marrying each other and waitresses with two kids start leaving their husbands, household-level income inequality is bound to go up, but this is still change for the better relative to the previous status quo.