Backward-thinking men and women who worship the Mad Men era as a utopian dream are holding back the cause of gender equality.
As I make the media rounds for my new book All In, I'm running into them.
Men "want to be on the job... It's their women that are dragging them home," a caller told me and host Jim Richards on NewsTalk 1010, a Toronto radio show. The Mad Men era "was one of the greatest eras of civilization for us," he said, adding, "What are we supposed to do - feminize ourselves and not be part of it?"
He went on to explain that mothers should get more custody after a divorce because women are better at parenting. Guys should realize "you gotta make the bread."
He wasn't alone. A woman called in to agree that men are being "feminized" and to add what she apparently considers insight. Moms should not work outside the home, she said. "Women want the men home so the men will do the laundry, they'll take out the garbage."
As for men being pushed against care-giving and pushed to stay at the office: "That's what men do." All righty then.
This backward thinking is what we're up against.
This sexism stands in the way of equality. We have to rise up together to combat it. That's what All In is all about.