🚀 go-pugleaf

Ellen M Klann <emklann@titan.oit.umass.edu> wrote:
>Its also 
>just nice to get out of the house a few evenings a week and do something 
>different and meet people.  It does seem to me though that more women 
>will take evening classes for personal enjoyment than men.  It was 
>pointed out to me when I said something like this before that women have 
>more free time than men.  I don't believe this .  Many women have 
>children to take care of, and yes can have jobs as demanding as men, and 
>yet they find the time.

Ellen, I think the functional phrase is "*can* have jobs just as
demanding as men" in that last sentance.  Our society puts an awful lot
of pressure on men to earn big $$$ as part of their core identity and
as a way to take care of their kids.  (Even divorce courts will jail
a Dad who doesn't pay Child Support; but has yet to jail a Mom for
denying Dad visitation with his own kids.  I'm not saying this is good
or bad; just using this fact to point out how our society judges men.)
Men who don't earn a good chunk of the family's money or don't work at
all are judged as "losers" & "deadbeats" by both men & women alike.

But, when a woman wants to either take serious time off, take lessor
paying easier jobs or quit working altogether (especially if children 
can be the excuse), nobody bats an eye.  Also, both sexes expect
women to be spending a guy's money.  To make things more complicated,
women can now choose to have full blown careers, be housewives, or try
to mix the two; men, pretty, much only are allowed to be breadwinners
and not much more.  (Again: I am NOT saying any of this is 
good/bad/whatever -- it's our society works for a good number of people.)

This being said, this is why you'll find the engineering and business 
classes with many more men than women in them; while the fun classes
in arts, language, and literature usually have more women than men.

  - John

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