Men who want a partnership based on equal care, support, understanding, and check-covering may find this phenomenon unfair, and it is a reasonable expectation. I will concede that some ordinarily free women who do not consider themselves to be “takers,” “traditionalists,” “needy,” or “vulnerable” may experience intense internal struggle as a result of my proposition. However, as Stephen Marche notes in his most recent piece in The Atlantic, “Home Economics: The Link Between Work-Life Balance and Income Inequality,” “Men and women are stuck together in a maze of contradictions today rather than facing off on a battleground.” However, powerful, self-assured women who stand up for themselves all day long frequently discover that they desire giving from the males in their lives. They want the man in their lives to hold the door open for them, share an umbrella, and extend an invitation to a planned and financed date. It’s easy to understand why, given the nature of women’s employment nowadays. For socio-political, socio-cultural, and socio-emotional reasons, strong women look to males in relationships to take care of them. The most overt socio-political argument is the injustice inherent in our society’s patriarchal political structures.
