Jonathan Wingo said:
Traditionally, men have been the providers, ever since the days when providing for your family meant building a house by hand and going out to hunt and kill animals to keep your family alive. Nothing wrong with a man taking care of the house, but it's not very manly to do that. It'd be more manly to go out and give your wife the easier job(yes, easier job, is it really hard to cook, pickup after yourself and others, and things of that nature?) rather than making your wife work her ass off to support the family with the financial needs? Not saying that women can't do that, but traditionally, the men have been the ones to go out, work hard, get food, and let the wife have the easier job of cleaning and cooking. It's called being chivalrous.
I could just troll you and say "What a fantastically 19th century mindset you have". It would be unproductive though, so I am going to develop my stance a little more than that, even if that is the gist of it.
First of all, the whole "the man has always been the provider for 'his' women" is a myth that was thrown about 19th century Victorian England to help repress women during the industrial revolution. Historically, women have helped their husbands in whatever profession they have had. From working on the farm to helping out in the blacksmith or the market, women have had to work just as much as their husbands (or fathers) to provide for the family.
Or how do you suppose that unmarried maidens and widows survived? By the gracious generosity of the society and welfare laws? No, they worked. In fact, most widows carried on their husbands profession in his stead if he passed on early.
How do you suppose that women survived in times of war? They worked their behinds off to cover for the absence of their husbands (this is especially true for peasants since they were also expected to provide more food to the war effort).
That taking care of the home is easier is also a misconception, as I think anyone who's ever spent time only taking care of the home can attest. Especially when you add in half a dozen kids into the equation along with responsibility for the economy and all the other chores.
I am sorry, but your idea of what is "a mans duty" is based in a myth created to repress women. So what makes a man a man? I would dare say that it isn't that he "provides for his family" because the whole concept of the classical family is as dated as the century in which it was created.
Today, I think that man and woman are concepts that sociologically are cracking and fading. Just be who you want to be, because living by someone elses definition won't make you happy.
