Our radical feminist friends have long raged about “the patriarchy.” But now Jonathan Rauch studies demographics, especially with regard to college degrees, and proposes that we’re headed for matriarchy.


In a piece on “The Coming American Matriarchy: The Fairer Sex Gets Ready to Take Over,” Rauch evaluates the well-known phenomenon of women now outnumbering men in college. What does it mean? Rauch notes:


“According to census data, a higher share of women than men already work in management and professional jobs (37 percent versus 31 percent, in 2005). …



“Women’s superior education will increase their earning power relative to men’s, and on average they will be marrying down, educationally speaking. A third of today’s college-bound 12-year-old girls can expect to “settle” for a mate without a university diploma. But women will not stop wanting to be hands-on moms. …



“Look, then, for rising pressure on government to provide new parental subsidies and child care programs, and on employers to provide more flextime and home-office options — among various efforts to help women do it all. Look, too, for a cascading series of psychological and emotional adjustments as American society tilts, for the first time, toward matriarchy. What happens to male self-esteem when men are No. 2 (and not necessarily trying harder)? When more men work for women than the other way around? …



“Many tradition-minded cultures in the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia already regard the Western economic and social model as emasculating. Radical Islam, in particular, abhors feminism. As the United States and Europe continue to feminize, will the anti-modern backlash, already deeply problematic in the Muslim world, intensify? As sex roles and expectations diverge, might hostility and misunderstanding mount between the West and the rest?



 “No, men are not about to disappear into underclass status. They will not become mothers anytime soon, and they will not stop secreting testosterone. Men’s ambition will ensure ample male representation at the very top of the social order, where CEOs, senators, Nobelists, and software wunderkinds dwell. Women will not rule men.



 “But they will lead. Think about this: Not only do girls study harder and get better grades than boys; high school girls now take more math and science than do high school boys. If there is a ‘weaker sex,’ it isn’t female.”


It would be a pity if economic gains by women translated into bigger government. A second observation:  Krista Kafer did an excellent paper for the IWF on taking the boy-crisis in education seriously. She puts forward reasons why fewer young men are college-bound and what can be done about this.