Families can drive gender equality, but only if we help them evolve

Women are increasingly the breadwinners of their families, a shift in domestic roles that has upsides and challenges.

The concept of family lends itself to exaggerated claims. Depending on who you talk to, the decline of the traditional family in recent decades either means the triumph of individualism and the onset of “pure relationships” or the dissolution of society, population decline and the death of the nation. For women, in particular, families have long been deeply paradoxical spaces. They can bring love and life but also struggle, inequality and, far too often, violence.

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