I think it is debt.

When I do think back, both parents worked, my father two jobs often, I still remember being poorer than some single wage packet families. I know they had a medical debt from when they first arrived as immigrants having no medicare back then, and was 10 years to repay if I recall correctly. So the difference may have been that obligation. So my mother was enslaved to debt.

However debts were repaid. Mortgages were based on a single income only, irregardless if the wife also worked. So debt was manageable and the mortgage paid off, no credit card debt so life was good once the kids fled the nest.

So when the wife's income was allowed to be used to assess how much one could borrow it doubled the amount to purchase driving up real estate prices and enslaving the wife (or house husband). So maybe it is simply debt that has taken this choice away from mums. When we stopped the sexist attitude of not lending money to women perhaps we should have reduced the amount as a percentage that could be borrowed overall.

Fleeing the nest might be a good idea. There are still civilised places on this planet where men and women can live together as friends without the aggression nor the unattainable goals double-income inflation and mortgages just for a roof over your family's heads, and it's not about running away, but I suppose that many men brought up in the western world might have been taught like myself from a very young age to never fight a woman.

If she slaps your face, then step back, turn and walk away. That is the way that gentlemen behave. If you find yourself getting slapped in the face continually throughout your life in contemporary Australia, then take a good close look at your own behaviour, but if that is not the cause of it, then to further that learned-response, make sure you have your degree w/transcripts, and fly, fly away while you can still afford the airfares.

There is still intelligent life on this planet, even today. Australia being an island continent, it requires a boat or a plane, but don't give up on the entirity of humanity until you look beyond the horizon.

Dougthebear < "A world where the aggression and violence characteristic in males is completely replaced by the feminine: ie a world without males."

Tempting as it may seem at times Doug, the scenario you paint seems very depressing! Most of the medical reproductive advances you speak of are of use mainly to either infertile couples or to perhaps lesbian couples and the odd despairing single woman.

These constitute only a minority of women in our world. The rest of us, I can assure you, are still quite happy to make babies the old fashioned way. Women's liberation won't change that.

The pleasure and companionship that many women enjoy with their male partners, family members and friends far outweighs the disadvantages of living with men.

Seano has restored my faith in mankind by his insightful post.
I must admit I become despondent at times trying to communicate with any man on this forum who does seem to at least tolerate us girls!

The cost of this process was the decommissioning of the traditional family.

As to what cost the children pay (or what level of benefit they enjoy) is proportionate to the successful division of family tasks that the parents (and children) negotiate.

Whilst I don't suffer at work, the reality is that I am here to earn money so I can enjoy my recreational time with my wife and children. If I had the 'privilage' to secure a fixed mortgage 20 years ago, I would have paid off my house and would be scaling back my working life and enjoying being with my wife and family a lot more than I can now.

The moral of Mr H's article was that we have all been entrapped by banks, business and economic cycles and all because we have politicians happy to cede our (the peoples) societal interests. Aspiration, affluence and...?

Sadly, as a society, people are becoming more commodified and our intrinsic value along with concepts of family, marriage etc, are becoming marginalised.

Thank God my wife is happy to put up with my imperfections and those trying times that children bring.

Let's face it, there is little societal pressure/judgement for her to limit her reproductive life to one 'partner' when a P&O cruise is just a ticket away. 'That' very sad incident says it all to me. Some blokes are just not fit for feminine company and some women are just too silly and all with such dreadful outcomes.

Liberation is built on mutual respect for ALL other people. Acting childlike (innocence, thinking the best of all whom we encounter), rather than childish (arrogant, selfish, using people for MY pleasureetc), is a key option and applies to institutions as well as individuals.

There remains a lot of hurt people out there that need healing, and a lot more who just need an economic chance to live, let alone prosper.

ANY MARXIST ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF WOMEN'S LIBERATION WOULD SUGGEST THAT WOMEN ARE MORE OPPRESSED THAN EVER... BUT STILL ONE HAS TO SAY THAT WHILE BOTH WOMEN AND MEN FIGHT FOR A DWINDLING NUMBER OF JOBS, IT IS MEN WHO WILL HAVE TO GO AND FIGHT IN WW111- ...PERHAPS LIBERATION MAY MEAN MORE CHAINS AND PERHAPS MORE WOMAN SHOULD GIVE UP THERE DAY JOBS AND JOIN THE DEFENCE FORCES...BUT UNTIL THEN, YOU COULD SAY THAT WE ARE ALL OPPRESSED BY BIG BUSSINESS AND WAYWARD GOVERNMENTS, AND FORGIVE ME FOR BEING APOCALYPTIC, BUT WHEN IT COMES, THERE IS NO AMOUNT OF FREE THINKING WHICH WILL ALLOW ANY OF US TO BECOME COMPLACENT... ESPECIALLY AS IN THE SENSE OF WONDERING HOW WE SHOULD SPEND OUR SPARE TIME

Great article.
Every change will involve positives and negatives.
The positives of liberating women are well documented and generally well understood, the negatives are not so well understood. I reckon the author did a pretty good job.
On balance, you'd have to say the positives outweigh the negatives but it is completely wrong to say there are no negatives at all. Nothing is that perfect!
While the value of labour has decreased and the culture has changed and workers have generally lost out to companies (who now have a much bigger labour pool)...this is balanced by the fact that we are not breeding like rabbits and can afford some civilisation.