So if one is to put these observations together, it would seem to make sense from the "keep your marriage intact by staying at home arguement" could be valid. However, does a woman want to stay at home and risk having no financial protection in case her husband leaves her? For many women that answer is "no!". Many states do not award maintenance payments after divorce anymore.
Many women appear to be either wired from birth or acquire from learned behaviors that their number one need is to take care of themselves by virtue of finances, either by their own work or by acquired works (their husbands). Many women seem to sacrifice their souls for the man they are unhappily married to just so they can have financial security. I can understand the need of women to do something that they like to do, be it work or stay at home. Everyone, man or woman, should decide for themselves what is most comfortable and fulfilling. Unfortunately, we don't always get what we want, and that creates conflict with ourselves and to those around us. Both sexes in the workplace has done a lot of good and bad at the same time. Greater productivity, greater diversity in views, etc. But the sacrifice seems to have been the integrity of the marriage and family. Women don't need men as much (at least the ones who are in it for the money). Women and men are more apt to stray outside of their marriages when put together in close social environments, like the workplace. Children suffer with one or now both parents spread thin between work and household duties. I believe we can all learn how to adjust to both spouses working, but there will most likely need to be some sacrifice by one or both. That will probably only work if there is no resentment or inequality (at least perceived) of the sacrifice. As humans, we all knowingly or not, admit to ourselves or not, keep tallies of what we think we deserve or owe to others. Unfortunately, also as humans, there is a tendancy towards selfishness so the tallies tend to be scewed towards getting more than giving.

The workplace is great for business, but really for many reasons does not seem to be good for the marriage and family if both spouses work.

So, what would I know? My testimony is automatically invalidated because I am a man. An interesting world we have created for ourselves over the last 40-odd years.

The comment that I found most interesting was the last paragraph: "So this is my call for a shift in discussion about women and work. Both men and women need to figure out how talk about how to make better marriages. We need to take all our energy we spend talking about the risks of stay-at-home parenting, and the risks of dual-career families, and put that thinking power toward what makes a marriage strong."

That is a brilliant suggestion.

We spend so much time in the public sphere debating these questions that we forget that marriage is between two people who need to spend time and energy together to work things out. There's so much pressure for them to be and do outside the home that only as a combined front can they resist the pressure to work too long and buy too much.

I also like the perspective of the positive in the suggestion. Let's find out what makes marriages work instead of focusing on what doesn't make them work. I don't think the answer is one-size-fits-all, but the answer does start with the two people involved finding out who they are individually, acknowledging that, and then finding out who they are in relationship to each other and continue that discovery during the whole of their marriage.

I salute the next generations — I find you all so very awesome!

And yes, I am married and hope to stay so.