Behind the twinkling lights and soaring towers of New York City is a local community rich and vibrant in its diversity. Like any locality, relationships between women and men there take a variety of forms, some more constructive than others. But growing numbers, including young parents just beginning their families, are thinking deeply about how the equality of women and men can find greater expression with each successive generation.  

“We recently became parents, so that really brought in a whole new element of what housework looks like if you're striving for gender equality,” says Kimia, an artist in the city. “What income looks like. What childcare looks like.”

“The biggest barrier remains the expectation of what equality really means,” adds Kenny, her husband. “How do we as a couple, and as a family, address that expectation?”

For some, reconceptualizing what it means to be a man or a woman in a North American society is a key priority. 

“We’re still exploring what healthy masculinity is,” says Penn, an actor and producer. 

“Our male-dominated structures are too rigid. They’re calcified,” he explains, noting the need for more integrated and responsive conceptions. “What kind of strength is it to be elastic? To bend? To be receptive?” 

Fostering a wide range of qualities, both those traditionally identified as masculine and as feminine, takes on very practical dimensions for the parents of young children.  

“One of the things we both think about a lot in raising our son is cultivating his gentleness,” says Haley, a creative strategist and consultant.

She explains that many people appreciate her son’s traditionally masculine qualities of boldness, courage, and energy. But she sees his qualities of thoughtfulness, observation, and compassion as being just as important. “I don't want any one thing to mean that he can't be the other.” 

Haley’s husband, Lucas, notes that childrearing is something that is profoundly unifying at a global level. 

“Raising our son is one of the things that I do as a member of the human race,” he says. 

“Starting a family feels like beginning to participate in a dialog that exists across the entire world. It's not something that exists in America, or something that exists in Asia. It's something that we all do together.”