From Kitchen to Climate, Is Saving the Planet Women’s Work?

Whether you identify as male or female, or not, the clear disparities between attitudes of these genders represent large divides that continue to be contested. Strict gender norms have been engrained so rigidly that there is not enough room for a middle ground. Despite the danger of such delineation politically, the planet is currently falling victim to gender roles.

When it comes to climate change, men have relinquished responsibility for children and the planet to women. However, is this a Men are from Mars and Women from Venus moment, or are women physically wired to be more considerate towards the planet? Science says both. Some “Research suggests that women have higher levels of socialisation to care about others and be socially responsible, which then leads them to care about environmental problems and be willing to adopt environmental behaviours,”. However, this does not mean that just because women are empathetic to their surroundings that they should tackle a climate crisis that they are only fifty percent responsible for.

But the trouble is that women are trying. The Office for National Statistics found that “Women carry out an overall average of 60% more unpaid work than men. This means that in addition to fighting for equal representation in the workplace, women are fighting to juggle social change with a 9-to-5, because men are not contributing equally.

It isn’t a man’s fault, however. Societal norms have pushed so hard towards female environmentalism that often men are punished for practicing environmentalism. The Tote Bag is one of the best examples of the male dilemma. As states such as New York and California ban plastic bags, and men have more things to juggle between phones, chargers, notebooks and wallets, tote bags have become useful solutions to their lives. Often, men have become extremely fashionable, selecting tote bags that represent their aesthetics and personalities. However, the internet has found more and more ways to bully men into submission.

The conversation around men and tote bags has been one of public ridicule. So public, in fact, that the trope has found its way onto several popular televisions hows, including Friends, in which the beloved character Joey is ridiculed for loving a bag that he used to carry things around. These attempts at comedy instead perpetuate stereotypes that carrying items in a bag is inherently feminine, and somehow bad for men to do.

Source: “The One with Joey’s Bag” Friends, Gail Mancuso, David Crane, Marta Kauffman, Season 5 Episode 13, NBC, 1999.

Modern fashion companies have been working to glamorize male tote bags, but for the time being, male carrying bags are largely existing only within the realm of fashion and some of the liberties it provides. Male tote bags simply play into a larger dialogue that needs to open in the United States and rest of the world. Why are we so afraid of men with a bag? Can he not express his masculinity while carrying a bag?

For the future generations, facing the fear of a bag will be a large question tackled simultaneously with the discussions of nail polish, dresses and emotions. Today, however, if you have the option to switch to a tote, or give a tote to a man in your life, it is the start to a conversation that is long overdue.