Women are showing more initiative than men along a spectrum of societal measurements, from children being prepared for grade school to single adults buying homes. “Girl power” is being expressed in the fashion and music industries, as well as in education and law. Why is this happening now?
Men have dropped out of the workforce and are dying “deaths of despair” in greater numbers than women. Tensions between men and women have increased, with men seeing the economy as a zerosum game and women seeing more opportunities before them. These contrasting worldviews are illustrated by the presidential campaign of Donald Trump and the musical success of Taylor Swift. The social conflict between men and women can be found in the writing of Jordan Peterson, a psychologist, and the movie Barbie. As more and more women see themselves moving up, many men see their career arc – and, indeed, their personal arc – trending downward.
The era of limits, which we have written is just starting, with its diminishing supplies of things from water to food and from workers to critical minerals, will make the men’s position about living in a zerosum game more attractive.