The recession that followed the collapse of the housing bubble took a terrible toll on these guys; overall, it cost twice as many men jobs as it did women...Women, meanwhile, have seen dramatic economic gains as more of them entered the workforce and their wages increased...Education is crucial to economic success, and women are now getting more bachelor’s degrees than men.

Maybe one day all of this will result in women earning as much as men (yes, even taking pregnancy into account), or having access to the same upper management positions that men have.

Can women have it all? A recent essay in the Atlantic Monthly has unleashed a furious debate. I actually have an answer to offer, but before I give it, I want to suggest that the focus is on the wrong question. A more urgent one at this juncture is: Can blue-collar men have anything?

If we accept what the author posits, that there can be a 'proper question to ask', I see no good reason why the author's question is the correct one at this stage in the game for our society. All other things being equal, if I'm a job seeker in the USA today, please let me be a man, and (incidentally) please let me be white.

If the author wanted to ask a more interesting (and valid imho) question given his paradigm, he would have completely stripped out the 'men' out of 'blue-collar men' and asked if blue collar workers can have anything. I think the massive increase in capture of wealth by the richest few percent of Americans at the expense of the middle and lower classes is a lot more compelling than the non-existent comparative employment crisis that men face.