As long as the United States is a patriarchal society, women will not be truly equal

I was going to write a long argument, refuting things my opponent said and making claims and whatever and what not, but all of those aren't really important to the main argument. .. should women be equal in society in the areas of employment, family responsibilities, and education. .. so I'm just going to win the argument and ride into the sunset. My opponent has conceded that a single-income family is better. She also came to the conclusion herself that during the early years of child rearing, the mother should be the one to stay home and the father should work "I will even concede that for biologic and other reasons, this ought to be the mother during these early years" What else do I need? Why should a women go through all the chutes and ladders of getting a degree, if she will have to take years off of her current employment to raise children? This automatically puts her at an economic (assuming she's paid for her own college and didn't get a hand-out) and professional disadvantage (she's years behind her male counterparts) According to my opponent, the father MUST be the bread-winner during the early years of child rearing. Therefore, the father, in order to best provide for his family, should get a degree and get a good job. Assuming they remain as a single-income family. .. it makes no sense to waste all those years of the father going to school and working and climbing the professional ladder to quit and become a house-dad. "However, once kids begin school, I see no reason why the second parent cannot contribute to the household with duties as well as income AS/IF needed" -Except that you already agreed that a single-income family is BETER for everyone. And people should do what is better for everyone. It makes all the more sense for the woman to accept her gender role as mother and care giver. Q. E. D. 1. What practical tools do we have to change this? That's the tricky one. We can really only do our part. Or become supreme dictators of the universe. It's really against American policy to FORCE people to do stuff, but they can influence it in the old ways. Including doing stuff that I've already agreed was wrong (not allowing women to vote, defending institutions that discriminate against women. .. etc) Practically, we could start media tropes that enforce the idea, start public discourse. It's really hard for two people to say they have practical tools to change anything. For me, I most likely won't stick to the whole "my wife can't work thing", but I'd only push my daughters into degrees that are conducive to family. I'll admit to allowing myself to contribute to part of the problem of dual-income families. .. but I will try my darnedest to remain removed from that. It's really more of an admission of submission to society, then agreeing with it. If that's what you have to do to get by, then so be it. .. but I would much prefer my wife to expend her time on less economic matters. "2. What (if any) evidence is there to suggest that women should be the ones who retreat to the domestic sphere? " You answered this yourself, as written above. Wow, this is the first time I haven't used all my space. . thanks for making it easy gal ;) Three Cheers for 1,000 Years!