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There is a very intriguing article in the July/August issue of The Atlantic that offers a sobering analysis on the modern American male.

"The End of Men" asks the fundamental question of whether men are still relevant and necessary in ways we have traditionally been. While the rising prosperity of the American woman is good for the country, the article says "allowing generations of boys to grow up feeling rootless and obsolete is not a recipe for a peaceful future."

Here are some of the highlights by writer Hanna Rosin:

• Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in US history.
• For every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. Women also earn 60% of master's degrees, about half of all law and medical degrees, and 42% of all M.B.A.s.
• Three-quarters of the 8 million jobs lost during the so-called "Great Recession" have been lost by men. The worst hit were overwhelmingly male and deeply identified with macho: construction, manufacturing, high finance, steelworks, machinery, coal, shipbuilding, etc. "The recession," Rosin writes, "has revealed and accelerated a profound economic shift that has been going on for at least 30 years."
• Since 2000, manufacturing has lost almost 6 million jobs, more than a third of its total workforce. The housing bubble masked this by creating work in construction, but those jobs are now gone, as are the paychecks of electricians, builders, and many real estate agents.
• Men dominate just two of the 15 job categories projected to grow the most over the next decade: janitor and computer engineer. Jobs like nursing, home health assistance, child care, and food preparation are largely replacing tasks that women used to do in the home for free.
• Lower-income males have a harder time committing to schooling, even when they desperately need to retool. They start out behind their female counterparts academically and feel a mix of intimidation about the schoolwork and guilt over abrogating their responsibilities as breadwinners.
• Rosin says women appear better equipped to excel in the postindustrial society that we find ourselves living in as communicating has come to eclipse physical strength and stamina as the keys to economic success. "What if the economics of the new era are better suited to women?" she asks.
• The attributes that are most valuable in today's workplace -- social intelligence, open communication, the ability to sit still and focus -- are not predominantly male.
• Women often cost less to employ and prove to be reliable as long as their employers make their jobs more convenient for them.
• These changes in the global economy are quickly eroding the historical preference for male children.
• Men are faster and stronger and hardwired to fight for scarce resources; women are programmed to care for their offspring, and that is manifested in more-nurturing and more-flexible behavior.
• While feminism has pushed women to do things once considered against their nature -- first enter the workforce as singles, then continue to work while married, then work even with small children at home -- men have proved remarkably unable to adapt.
• Increasingly, females graduating college are putting off marriage and many expect to be the family breadwinner while their husbands stay at home, either looking for work or minding the children. The lack of employment opportunities is translating into a lack of "marriageable" men.
• A new type of alpha female -- the cougar with her boy toys -- is emerging. While these women were once viewed as desperate, they are now being perceived as ways for young American men to latch onto an older woman who is a good earner.
• Groups are forming across America to help men cope with unemployment or to reconnect with alienated families. Some focus groups are taking on an angry, antiwoman edge as the empowerment of women is perceived as a threat.
• Marriages are falling apart or never happen at all, and increasingly children are raised with no fathers. Four in 10 mothers -- many of them single mothers -- are the primary breadwinners in their families.
• Food stamps are just about the only social-welfare program a man can easily access.
• There is a fundamental shift in the home dynamic as unemployed men and those earning less than their wives find themselves confused about their identities as the heads of their households, the authority to lead and provide for their families questioned in ways that were hard to imagine a half-century ago. 
• Men convey leadership by asserting themselves in a controlling manner, while women tend to take into account the rights of others. Women bosses behave more like coaches than tyrants, channeling their charisma to motivate others to be hard-working and creative.
• Females are more sensitive in general to social intelligence, which includes reading of facial expressions and body language.
• As a result of the financial crisis, researchers have begun to question the relationship between testosterone and excessive risk, thus putting men on the side of the irrational and overemotional, while women are increasingly seen as cool and levelheaded.

A very fascinating and insightful article. I definitely recommend every guy read it as food for thought.

• Are Men Necessary? (parenting.blogs.nytimes.com)
• The postindustrial workforce is now dominated by women (techstartups.com)
• Three ways that women are about to change the world [Editor's Column] (io9.com)
• Ellen Galinsky: Revisiting "The End of Men:" Similar Problems, Different Conclusions (huffingtonpost.com)
• The Changing Economy Means College Isn't for Everyone (usnews.com)
• It's Not the End of Men. (prospect.org)
• The End of Men (theatlantic.com)
• The End of the American Man? (alternet.org)
• "The End of Men?" and related posts (aqueductpress.blogspot.com)