With modernization of society as well as the tools available, these roles have started to merge a lot. Today, even the toughest and riskiest of jobs are seeing more women step in (all the way from racing cars to cabbies to construction, the armed forces to the executive boardroom).
Go back even to the sixties and today, TV shows like Mad Men paint a very different picture (albeit a little bit extreme). If you're a man reading this, you're probably thinking "Wouldn't it be something to live in that era?" and if you're a woman, you're probably squirming in disgust, and thanking where we as a society have come today.
Today, women can do pretty much everything a man can do, and pursue the same goals. Yes, we definitely don't see as many women pursuing the same goals as men, but that seems more a matter of percentages - most women in the western world have the options to pursue the same things men have the option to.
Now, let's take the big disadvantage that men have - biologically speaking - child birth. Men are not able to continue the human race as they cannot bear children. Men definitely play a big part in the whole child bearing process, but still can never become pregnant themselves. One could argue that women can't do this by themselves either, and that the key ingredient in this process is provided by a man. This might be true; however, consider the popularity of sperm donations and sperm banks. Today, a woman has many more options to select (in a limited fashion) the biological "farther" of her child that she can gestate. The man in the equation doesn't even need to know (and doesn't get to know) what happens to the sperm he has donated.
So, are men becoming obsolete? With a lower life expectancy as well as continued social changes, men might be heading towards nothing more than being sperm donors. At least, men can take solace in the fact that they won't be completely destroyed, but women will get to hand pick the sperm, and the survival of the fittest might end up being more of a survival of the cutest / hottest (which is somewhat true already).Men - terrified yet?
There is of course one slightly different way of looking at this - a more of a glass half full way (at least for those cuter / hotter men). In the past, men would work for everything, and pursue women, while women had the option of saying "yes" or "no". Maybe with this new paradigm, women work work hard and pursue men (which in the sperm donor world would translate to "better" men being sought after more and "paid" more for their sperm). Some might say that this is similar to men prostituting themselves, and that might be true. Ultimately, it seems that somewhere, we will hit a comfortable equilibrium possibly - who know what that will be, and when we will hit it.
Until then, women can enjoy their new-found freedom, and men can enjoy being pampered a little.
What do you think? Are men becoming obsolete?
