How Relationship Roles Have Reversed

By SMF Marcus Osborne for GalTime.com

There are plenty of celebrated relationship obstacles. We're pretty aware of most of them, right? Money, religion, communication, race, class, national origin ... all the greatest hits. Virtually every dating and relationship expert has offered up their best advice on navigating those choppy waters — and why not? So much discussion, debate, and research has been had about those particular flashpoints, so it's difficult to understand why they remain problem areas at all. 

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On the other hand, most adults, by the time they've gained a certain amount of experience, can hardly claim ignorance. They've learned how to remedy the most poisonous of pills in their relationship. But there's an unrecognized, underplayed threat to couples and potential couples far and wide. That threat is the growing divide between traditionalists and progressives.

I'm referring to those people who adhere to traditional gender roles for men and women in relationships. The man is the head of the household, the provider. The woman is the homemaker. She's center stage, taking responsibility for managing domestic duties and raising children. The progressives live out a different truth. For them, that bright red line between men and women's gender expectations has been dimmed through necessity and societal evolution. 

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So before I get too much farther here, let me say that I'm not about to advocate one point of view over another. I'm merely hoping to shine light and spark legitimate discussion about what I believe is a major new lightning rod for couples. What's the big deal you ask?

There are more women in the national workforce than at any point in our nation's history. Stories abound about the number of women who are graduating college. For the first time ever there are more women receiving college degrees than men. The latest recession has hit men far harder than women, and perhaps most significant is the transition from an economy driven by manufacturing to an economy driven by intellectual acumen and creativity. Men's greatest advantage has been their physicality. That so-called advantage is worthless when the emphasis in the workplace is placed on brain power.

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From a practical standpoint, there's absolute logic in men and women sharing the chances to pick up the check on the first date, since there's a strong chance that the woman is making as much if not more than the man. The rise in "house husbands" is no fluke and you can expect that over the next few years that the phenomenon will be less an anomaly and more the norm.

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