Encouraging Male Chauvinism and Mommy Wars

Recently in the last couple of days, I have come across a few articles and messages which made me mad. 

The first was a message in one of the WhatsApp groups I am in and it was a bad joke - a guy does not change the baby's diaper and instead changes the baby in the hospital because the "moral" of the story is that men should not be given work which is not theirs. 

While I understand it is a joke, it is precisely this attitude which makes men feel like they don't need to do any baby or kid related activities because it's not their job. They are not good at it. Utter nonsense! I know plenty of men who have changed diapers and plenty who help with kids too. 

So why then the prevailing misconception that men should not change diapers or that it's not their job? Are only women supposed to change diapers or anything related to kids? When is society going to change their freaking mind on this - that if women can go to work and do everything a man can, a man is perfectly capable of and should do everything a woman can. 

These kinds of jokes implicitly encourage male chauvinism and allow them to feel that they don't need to do these types of work around the house and family because they're not good at it. 

The second was a blog post I read. This mom says she's tired of media saying there are not enough women in stem jobs or CEOs. She says that is because women are choosing to do the most important job which is raising their families and staying at home with them is more important than anything else so media should not say anything about this. Seriously?? 

When did the media say you should sacrifice your family to focus on work? And why on earth can't women take care of their families and work at the same time? Women can work without sacrificing either work or family. It is hard and women are not given enough support in the workplace - which is why not enough women go up the ladder. Women bring a unique perspective to work which we need more of in corporate America. What we as a society need to do is improve the work environment and give more support to men and women so they can take care of family needs. 

It's a woman's right to choose whether she wants to work or stay at home. I don't think anyone disputes that but making it sound like the media is saying that women have to go to work so we get more women CEOs is ridiculous. 

It's very disappointing that these mommy wars are still continuing in so many different ways when we all need to be supporting each other.