Career vs. Family

After learning about Hanna Rosin's new book, The End of Men, I immediately assumed that the author and the book itself would receive praise across the board from women in the United States...  Not because American women are looking to "destroy" men in any sense of the word, but because of its seemingly empowering message that we as a gender can "rise from the ashes," so to speak.  However, I was surprised to learn (through this video) that a number of women don't see eye-to-eye with Rosin on this subject or believe that the message she’s sending is a positive one.  

When sitting down to discuss her book with a panel of women writers/journalists, Rosin first paraphrases the point of her book by describing men as cardboard and women as plastic, arguing that by being the "underdog" for so many years, women have learned to adapt to the career world in more ways than men.  In other words, women are seeking out and taking advantage of a plethora of career opportunities, while men – who feel obligated to be the "bread winners" – are staying put in their prescribed roles.

The women on the video see several things wrong with this.  One argues that a lot of young women just out of college are more relationship-oriented than men of the same age and are feeling alienated for being that way.  Another one says that Rosin, who talks about “hook-up culture” in her book, is claiming that the idea of “young love” is essentially dead.  And the final observation made is that even though women are striving to be CEO’s of companies, they (unlike men) are still having to balance child-rearing and family life with their jobs, which sometimes creates a “snowball effect” that causes women to stay home for longer periods of time.

I haven’t read the book, but it seems to me like Rosin is making a general observation that women as a whole are embracing the working world and becoming successful because of it.  I believe this to be true, but I also agree with the panel that women still value their family and social lives just as much as they used to, and that this shouldn’t be seen as unimportant.  What are your thoughts on this so-called balancing act that women are pressured to take part in?  Are more women choosing their careers over their relationships nowadays?

P.S.  Did anyone else think it was sweet when Rosin’s husband came on the air to talk about his pride in watching his wife’s career skyrocket while he mainly took care of the kids?  What a man!