We have made enormous strides in gender equality. It was only roughly a century ago, in the blink of an eye in the cosmic sense, that women gained the right to vote in the United States. Since then, women have, on paper at least, gained just about every legal right that men have.

Women can own anything, start businesses, work in any field, and we can even marry other women. All things that were forbidden for many of our grandmothers.

But even though we have made strides, many of us feel we are still getting a raw deal. In traditional relationships, many responsibilities still fall disproportionately on the women.

In addition to having opportunities once unavailable to us (good!), we still tend to be saddled with the responsibilities that our Y-chromosomed, facial haired counterparts just don't do.

From Suffragettes to Supermoms

Women almost always find themselves at the forefront of shouldering the emotional labor in a relationship. Emotional labor encompasses the unseen yet indispensable work of managing feelings, fostering relationships, and ensuring the mental well-being of those around them.

Your son falls off the bunk bed while roughhousing? He runs to the mom, not the dad. Your daughter is upset by a mean text she got from a classmate? Same thing.

Time to plan the Thanksgiving family get together? It's the woman who is sending emails, making phone calls, and brokering minor disagreements about scheduling. Remembering to send out birthday cards to out of town relatives? You guessed it, it's all on the women.

That just scratches the surface of the unpaid, unseen, but vital work that women almost always do with little help from their husbands.

I'm not saying anything new here. The blogosphere is filled with hoards of angry, bitter women bemoaning their newfound freedoms that their grandmothers never had.

Do Women Have a Legitimate Gripe?

Albert Einstein is often (almost certainly erroneously) credited with saying, "You wouldn't judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree."

What he meant was that everyone has certain talents, strengths, and weaknesses that others just don't have. Women, frankly, are just better at shouldering that type of emotional labor than men are. I am speaking in general. That is not to say that there isn't the occasional man who loves planning birthday parties as much as women or is naturally inclined to comfort a toddler. But in general, women are just better at that kind of stuff.

So, what are men good at?

Well, a lot actually.

Men are generally bigger and stronger. They tend to have better spatial skills. You can't get the pickle jaw opened? Ask a man. The advantage of having spatial skills has been largely replaced by Apple Maps and Google's Waze, but it still comes in handy when trying to find your way around Ikea or the correct field for your son's Little League game at your suburban city's brand new youth baseball mega facility.

When things go bump in the night, it's the man walking downstairs to assuage our fears (probably whilst rolling his eyes as soon as he turns his back because he knows it's just the furnace vent shaft flap thingy catching the wind.) In a typical household, a man is usually responsible for the maintenance, yard work, heavy lifting, and things like that. None of it seems like too much, but it adds up, just like women's work.

Life is unduly difficult without a man around. Just as I imagine a life for a single dad, raising kids alone is hard. Men aren't naturally equipped to handle certain things when it comes to raising children, but for the most part, they do a pretty good job of it when they try.

After all, who tends to fare better? Kids growing up without a father or kids growing up without a mother? If we are being honest, which I know is hard when it comes to gender issues, we all know that fatherless kids end up dead, in jail, or otherwise underachieving at a far higher rate than motherless kids.

Forget about the terror of having to walk across a dark parking lot at night. What about the pure dread and that uneasy feeling in your belly when you start up the car on a cold morning and that tire pressure light doesn't blink off the way it usually does? Women with a man in their lives have that problem taken care of in 30 seconds with one quick text. Not the rest of us, though.

OK, So Answer Your Question: Do Women Have a Legit Gripe?

Women wanted and deserved equal rights and opportunities, and we got them. Now, many of us are sitting in our cubicles wearing our pantsuits and realizing there's a downside.

With a job comes work.

Women are still expected to do all of the other emotional labor and Women's Work that comes with family life.

The busy work, men, is gonna have to get split up. Washing dishes, vacuuming, that kind of stuff, men, you're just going to have to do. Men are reaping the financial benefit of living in a two income household. They have to put in the work.

But women, you are still going to have to (probably) shoulder the emotional labor that only you can do. The three year old doesn't understand the implications and nuances of modern feminist discourse as it relates to intersectional paradigms and reconfigurations of domestic relational dynamics. He just wants his mommy when he gets a boo-boo.

Like Einstein reportedly said, don't judge a fish by his ability to ride a bike. Men just aren't going to be able to do that stuff as well as women.

And men, just wash the dishes, fold the laundry, and be a peach and vacuum every Thursday evening so the house is clean for the weekend. And I know it's totally fucking pointless, but when you vacuum, make sure you put the lines in the carpet in that pattern she wants. Ya, it's annoying, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal. You have your quirks, too, like how you insist on hanging a tennis ball from the garage rafters to mark just how far the car should be pulled in. Honestly, that's just as dumb as the vacuum cleaner lines.

In the 21st century, where women have the same rights as men, men should still:

Embrace Your Strengths: Men, your physical power and spatial skills are invaluable. Keep being the reliable hand when something needs fixing and the reassuring presence when there's a strange noise in the middle of the night. Your practicality and ability to remain calm under pressure make you indispensable in crisis situations. And for us women, it doesn't take much for something to be a crisis, amirite?

Celebrate Your Protective Nature: Your instinct to protect and provide is not something to be ashamed of. It is a beautiful aspect of masculinity. Women appreciate the sense of security that comes with having a man in their life. Whether it's walking us to our car in a dark parking lot, helping us deal with that tire pressure light, or just being the big spoon. Your protective nature is a comfort.

Embrace YOUR Emotional Intelligence: Men have a different kind of emotional intelligence that is usually overlooked. You have the ability to understand and manage your own emotions. Women understand and manage others' emotions. Your ability to manage your own and stay cool under pressure is needed. Stoicism is a strength. It makes you a better partner, father, and friend.

But men, please don't do this:

Do not downplay your gift of masculinity. It's needed, it's important, and it complements femininity in ways that create a balanced and harmonious bond. Don't think you shouldn't do things like open car doors, pay for dates, make decisions, or give compliments on appearance. (Use some judgment on that last one, though).

Neglecting to honor your masculinity and downplaying its significance not only does a disservice to oneself but is also inauthentic, and quite frankly, it's cringeworthy.