Gender Roles and a New Parenting Device

Some days back, I published my opinion on the unequally assigned gender roles in societies and how it shows in the modern American society at large. The angle I took was based on the arrival of a new baby stroller, the Abiie Stroller, equipped with a BabyDeck-a feature that will allow parents to change their baby’s diapers within the stroller instead of taking the child to a public restroom or anywhere in search of a changing-table. In the USA, many men’s restrooms lack a diaper-changing table and I pointed to this situation as an indicator of the gender-biased expectations made of moms/women to change their baby’s diapers in case it is needed.

In my opinion, the arrival of Abiie Stroller (in March 2008) will start the process of dissolving this gender-biased division of labor that is so far going to the advantage of men. A dad, whether willing or not to diaper-change the baby, has the pretext of non-availability of changing-table in men’s room, so the mom must take it to the women’s room to do the job. Since the built-in diaper-changing table (the BabyDeck) of Abiie Stroller will do away with the pretext, a social buttress of the gender-biased role of diaper-changing will be dazed down. Dads no longer will be able to hide under the excuse of the non-availability of a changing table and one more element promoting gender-inequality will be down.

Soon after the publication of my article at News Blaze, an uptight dad targeted my opinion on daddytypes.com, referring to my view as ‘grandiose pronouncements on the state of gender relations’. More interesting is the fact that the guy’s comments did not try to refute the viewpoint but attempted to discard it on the basis of my nationality. Psychological defenses work their way forward (or ‘backward’ for that matter) in conformity with social stereotypes so that the biased male’s position is either that of indifference or opposition. My viewpoint received the criticism that I come from a place where gang rapes and stoning of women are done as punishment (I don’t remember when that last happened in my province). If I consider it true, I can claim logically that it does not fail my stance on the gender bias issue.

First, an individual belonging to a certain background need not approve of his/her society’s practices and notions (I am an atheist for example and a feminist also). Secondly, commentary on social issues is not to be confused with personal like/dislike. By gathering information from the Internet (the leading source of information for writers today), one can infer with confidence which way the wind is blowing. Thus, both personal criticisms of a writer and the tendency to reject his/her social background are more of psychological defenses rather than objective viewpoints.

As feminism advances with an ever-steady pace, biased male population may find it increasingly difficult to counter this move toward gender/social equality. Abiie Stroller’s design is a seal of the technological trend to make gender-neutral products. Like all anti-gross concepts, it is likely to receive hostile criticism from the dominating gender but there is little chance of such criticism to make it in the long run. Useful technology is its endorsement to the claim of success. And many people are always ready to cherish it!!!!