man's work

work. The only work biologically limited to men is the work they do helping propagate the species and so far it is rarely referred to as work. All other "men's work" is based on cultural stereotypes. Margaret Mead pointed out that there have been villages in which men fish and women weave, and villages in which women fish and men weave, but in either type of village, the work done by men is valued more highly than the work done by women. This may be due to (1) the association of women with nature and men with culture (see Mother Nature); (2) women's reproductive activities keeping them closer to home where their activities are domestic and largely invisible, while men's activities are public and highly visible and thus command more cultural respect; (3) boys/men defining themselves by distancing themselves from and disdaining women and women's work. If men's work has been more highly valued, it has also traditionally been very toxic; the responsibilities of the provider role, the lack of family or leisure time, and rigid and narrow expectations of what is "masculine" have denied men their full human range of expression and may be responsible for the sex difference in death rates. Today many women are also taking on toxic workloads. It would benefit both sexes to change our cultural norms for success and for what constitutes an appropriate work load.