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Though there are more married couples that take initiative to split job time and housework between them, I think the younger generation is taking a step backwards in time, especially regarding the role marriage and family plays in job selection.
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<p>I’m okay with better taken-care-of-kids than not. I don’t see parents wanting to positively influence their kids’ lives as best they can as taking any sort of step back.</p>
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First, DRab and mmkb, I would like to clarify (as I should have done from the beginning) that by sciences I am referring to "hard sciences," meaning everything except biology, psychology, and the like, which women clearly excel at and have nearly equalled men in.
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<p>Again, I have a problem with your definition of fields. If we look at the wikipedia entry on “hard sciences,” we find many fields of biology very much fit into this classification. Good biology experiments (and like subjects) rely on experimental, quantifiable data and the scientific method. Good biology experiments focus on accuracy and what people call objectivity. And while the definition excludes psychology (as the hard sciences are contrasted to the soft sciences or social sciences), I would say that reputable psychological research (and not say, Freud) does the same thing! I also wouldn’t say “women clearly excel” at what you claim they do. While psychology, an extremely popular field (and perhaps the quickest growing) is far more populated by women than men, I see no reason to believe women, on average, clearly dominate the field (in research or in coursework). While there are many more bodies of women in the classes, and perhaps (but I don’t know) they on average do better with regards to grading in psych classes than men, I think the best of the best are often equally or near equally male and female, and men don’t do that far behind their female counterparts on average (if there is a difference in grades received between the sexes, which there quite possibly could be). Maybe I’m wrong about that, but I’m more confident the best of the best (those that go to the best graduate programs, for instance) are often equally from both sexes.</p>