The 1970s was a decade that threw traditional gender roles out the window.

This wave of the women liberation movement washed women out of the house and into the workforce en masse.

They bought into the concept that they could have it all. Do it all.

But with women doing it all, what was left for men?

The status quo wasn’t an option.

As women explored their newfound powers and freedoms, they began to receive official support from governments, laws and business.

In 1980, the federal government initiated a pilot affirmative action program in three departments: the Employment and Immigration Commission, Secretary of State and the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Three years later, it was extended to all departments within the federal public service.

The groups targeted were: Aboriginal peoples; persons with disabilities and women. The commission was instructed to “explore the most efficient, effective and equitable means of promoting equality in employment” for the four designated groups.

This meant these groups were given preferential treatment in hiring practices until the demographic of the workforce better represented the outside population.

Men who had been working their way up in a system previously designed to enable them were confronted with a new reality that didn’t meet their expectations.

A former police officer recalls the work environment when women were catapulted into positions of authority ahead of the men who had established their career path based on the previously entrenched system.

“We were angry, resentful and even venomous that these women were transferred laterally into these positions,” he recalls. “There are a lot of line workers who are still resentful for them jumping the line.”

He says their inexperience showed in poor decisions that could potentially have had an impact on officer and public safety.

“After seeing them in these roles, they were really over their experience and pay grade,” he adds.

“The whole situation brought morale down and yet you couldn’t say anything except amongst ourselves.”

Any official complaints of the system had been circumvented by a federal government amendment to section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“This ‘Equality Rights’ section contains protection against discrimination and makes a provision for special affirmative action programs,” states Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

“Subsection 15(2) acknowledges that equality requires conditions of disadvantage to be addressed. This means that the argument that employment equity is ‘reverse discrimination’ is not legally valid. Employment equity does not target individuals or groups for exclusion, as does discrimination; rather, employment equity seeks to include groups that are proven to have been excluded in the past.”

Interestingly, the group REAL Women of Canada (Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life), a non-partisan, non-denominational organization of independent women promoting equality for all women, opposes this approach.

“REAL Women of Canada supports without exception, the concept that women must have equal opportunity in employment.  Thus, all positions must be advertised and opened equally to both men and women,” states a position paper posted on its website. “REAL women, however, is opposed to the concept of enforced affirmative action which includes female quotas.

“These in fact become job ceilings for women, preventing them from obtaining jobs once the quota is filled.  To give women this preferential treatment on the basis only of their sex, is unfair, and is reverse discrimination against qualified males, as well as minority groups such as ethnics and native people. It is an undeniable fact that males now occupy the vast majority of high-paying positions,” the paper continues.

“This, however, is not necessarily evidence of sexual discrimination.  Rather, this may well be a reflection of the fact that women, until recent years, either have not been trained for, or have not participated on any large scale in the job market.”

As women gain new skills and training, their participation in the workforce – especially at higher levels – their representation will grow organically, the group asserts. “More and more, they are working in occupations that have been traditionally held by males. Increasingly, more qualified women, if they so choose, will attain better positions.”

Robert Monte, a lawyer and former corporate executive, now operates his own consulting firm as a certified business coach.

He says he thought affirmative action programs were a terrible idea from the beginning.

“When you legislate it on people without proper explanations, there’s going to be a backlash,” he says. Consequently, the systems that were set up to support women were counterproductive.

“Human rights tribunals, for example,” he adds. “If you sought help, everyone would know within days and bye-bye career.

“The real solution to these things is to learn to work together,” he explains. Opportunity, rather than artificial supports, is more than enough help. “Not only have they grabbed at that chance, but they also rose to levels that even I hadn’t imagined.”

Monte questions why business leaders would want to block women’s voices.

“We were losing out on 52 per cent of the population,” he says. “Why would anyone in this country not want the input at the highest levels?”

Not being the gender responsible for giving birth inherently retains the advantage for men in business, he adds.

“I like to tell people men have one career – the one that brings in the money,” he says. “And women have the career that brings in money, the marriage career (because they’re still primarily responsible for the household), the children and sometimes they have to take care of their parents, too.

“It’s amazing women are getting as far as they are and carrying up to four careers at the same time.”

Monte advocates additional maternity leave supports – including programs to keep women members of the workplace community while they’re away, and conscious re-integration initiatives.

There are very visible corporate leaders who are providing strong role models, says Monte, and the numbers are increasing.

“The person in charge of the space station right now is a women,” he cites. “The person who last took the shuttle to that space station is a woman. Ten years ago no one would have thought it possible.”

For their part, men have not been passive.

The men’s rights movement, although not as publicized and their female counterpart, has pushed for equal parenting rights, recognition of husband abuse and equality sentences for male and female offenders. Adjustments in these areas and more continue.

In an informal and confidential survey of 35 men, slightly more than half said they were raised to expect traditional gender roles in a marriage, or at least looked to that as the ideal.

“Growing up, both parents worked the full-time long hours of a professional, as a kid I saw what I missed out on in comparing my home life to some friends,” says one respondent.

However for some men, the women’s movement opened the door to a welcome new direction.

“It freed me from certain responsibilities that I was not comfortable with anyway,” says Jody Baker, a university professor. “I grew up doing household, farm chores. There was no ‘impact’ and I don’t feel like there was a ‘shift.’ A man sharing domestic duties is simply an expectation, something obvious. I have difficulty imagining a different scenario. I am proud of my wife’s achievements, I don’t resent them. I am proud of my ability to work on the car, do the dishes and laundry, fix the plumbing. I was consulted, I chose my lifestyle.”

Seventy per cent of men interviewed said there wasn’t an issue in their relationship with the workload being imbalanced. Almost half say their wives carry more of the burden of the household and childrearing duties, but contend it’s balanced when outside work commitments are taken into consideration.

Most say it’s a conscious negotiation. Some are reluctant to jump in.

“I cannnot handle the workload of my job and the work at home,” admits one survey-taker. “I do not have the same level of patience. I cannot handle so many tasks at one time. Deep down, I still think of it as her responsibility. She can ask for help if she needs it.”

Regardless, the overall picture during the last 40 years – since the rally that sparked the story of widespread bra-burning in the late ’60s – is one of great change.

Indicators suggest we are in a transition period moving toward a more balanced lifestyle for men and women.

“There is no question in my mind that it’s coming,” says Monte. “We still have a way to go, but it’s coming.”