Analysis Of Richard Dorment's 'Why Men Still Can' T Have It All

When we think about gender inequality, we usually think about the hardships that women have had to go through throughout the years. Even though we have evolved into a better society in terms of acceptance and comprehension, some women say that both genders are not equal and that they still can't have it all. In “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All” Richard Dorment explains that neither women nor men can have it all. Dorment walks us through all the hardships and pressure men have to endure on a daily basis. He shows us that men do not have it all and gives many reasons for why men do not have it better than women. I do agree with Dorment on most of the things he says; mostly because of personal experience. Dorment starts by analyzing the fact

“Among the various ways men can help women, paternity leave is sometimes mentioned as a good place to start”...“they would help remove the professional stigma surrounding maternity leave and level the playing field.” He also tells us that only twenty-nine percent of those who take it are men. The reason why men don't take advantage of this privilege is because we are expected to be able to endure any type of hardship. "Women who ask for family leave are behaving in a more gender normative way, compared with men who request a family leave....” says Dorment. I could attest to this due to the fact that I’m a man. From the time I was born I’ve been hearing how men have to be tough and how they never cry. In my opinion, this the main reason why men don’t take paternity leave. They don’t want to be teased at work, or be considered less manly by their peers. Women don’t have a problem with this because they are thought to be more fragile. Therefore, when they take family leave, people see it as a normal thing, as if it is expected. Dorment also says that some men just don’t feel the need to take time off. He says that men feel left out during the first six weeks after pregnancy. “Baby book after baby book warns parents that new fathers typically feel "left out," and there's a reason for that: because they are typically left out”. He brings up an interesting point about how babies spend their time, “A baby eats (with about eighty percent of women today choosing to breast-feed); he poops; he sleeps”. With that said, I think there’s little things men can do to help and that’s why they go to work instead of staying at