“Btw, I couldn't give a toss whether a woman chooses to enter the armed forces as a foot soldier - I'm more interested in the phenomenon. (I've met some great male nurses too - and single dad's who are wonderful nurturers).”

Me either really. What’s interesting about it? I suppose I thought people stuck to certain fields of work because of pressure from society and it didn’t occur to me that they couldn’t interchange at will if given the chance.

Well, it's best I leave this one alone as I am one who likes women who are feminine and take pride in their feminine appearance. I think I will continue to draw 'my line' where it is. Others can do as they wish.

I have never been one to admire the 'butch' type, but hey, it takes all kinds I suppose.

The two women in my life, my wife and daughter are who matter most to me and both turn to me for the tough stuff. I am a 'man' and they are 'women' and we mutually respect that fact.

I recon that's the way it was intended to be for me as I have been brought up to provide for and respect women, not compete with them.

Cheers.

rehctub,

I understand where you're coming from.

I ask for male assistance with jobs like that - in re-seating or changing a tap washer, even though I could learn to do it. Same with trimming trees and such like.

It's the cooperative and complementary relationship between the genders that tends make each feel valued by the other.
It's not necessarily all about defining capabilities or limitations.

Rehctub:“I have never been one to admire the 'butch' type, but hey, it takes all kinds I suppose.”

In a fight I definitely want the butch type by my side.

A few of my Aunties lost husbands and had to raise children and run farms by themselves. They’d go from throwing bales of hay around in the morning to the church cake sale in the afternoon without blinking an eye.

Uncles that lost wives went and found a new ones quickly because someone had to cook and raise the kids for them.

Oh I think the two world wars sorted the women from the men didn't they?
While it was mostly men that went off to fight in the trenches for those wars, the women were left at home to take over all the jobs the men used to do prior to the wars.

And guess what?

They managed quite well, and often refused to give up their jobs when the men came back from war.

Any guy who still doesn't think women can do almost any job these days is still living in the dark ages.

Suze,

Yes, the women had to step up during both major wars - and they acquitted themselves very well....but let's not be too simplistic and lose sight of the job that the men were doing and the opportunity to "get on with it on the homefront" that their contribution provided.

If we look at the British experience during WWII, for example, the women were in the factories making armaments and learning how to get by on rations - and there was a rare camaraderie in evidence as the population pulled together because "the chips were down".

But the men were busy preventing the enemy from crossing the Channel and invading.
They were otherwise engaged and if it wasn't for this engagement and the "peaceful" homefront that was provided, no amount of camaraderie or female industriousness would have coped with the onslaught.

It is, in fact, a perfect example of the genders working together in complementary fashion.