Procreation is obviously necessary to continue the human race; and it is objective to say that it is the role of women to be mothers, and men to be fathers in that task. What exactly that means, however, is much less objective. It is important to acknowledge that people are ultimately individuals who ought not need to live the life you believe is appropriate for their biological sex; but it is equally important to acknowledge that there are biological differences between men and women that will certainly take part in defining who they are as an individual.

**TL;DR - While there are biological differences between men and women, gender is a social construct. Men and women do not have different roles to play in society as this only perpetuates the patriarchal structure by stereotyping sexes into different roles.** • To achieve equality, a ‘gender blind’ society needs to be created to ensure we are all treated equally. As gender is a social construct, biological differences should be no barrier to equal treatment, so the idea that men and women have different roles is a flawed notion that needs to be tackled to achieve equality. • For example, just because history has told us that men need to be the breadwinners and women the housewives, does not mean that men have a social responsibility to hold down a good job and women to stay at home and look after the children. • Claiming that men and women each have different roles to play in society only further prevents women from accessing equal opportunities and continues the process of gender socialisation. • Moreover, arguing that men and women have different social responsibilities divides society into two groups. In reality, modern society is much more complex than that; for example, intersectionality means that there are no unifying gender traits as multiple differences exist between women.

**Biological sex is not completely irrelevant in many family situations, but saying men and women _should_ have different roles in society is sexist.** - We all have different roles to play in society, based on our strengths and individual priorities, but it is reductive and sexist to dictate these purely on the basis of sex or gender. Different job roles (including the role of the stay-at-home parent) suit people with different skill sets, personality types, life experiences, and priorities that can belong to men or women. - That being said, biological sex is a factors that come into play for many families, particularly heterosexual couples who are raising families. Many women who breastfeed, and/or have a strong protective maternal instinct would prefer to have their male partner be the breadwinner while they take care of a child. (although perhaps some of this is down to judgement on mothers who work.) In cultures/individual situations where work is very manual or where food is acquired by hunting, it often just makes sense for the man to be the breadwinner. - The history of dividing roles by biological sex did not come from nowhere, but it has definitely evolved into a sexist expectation that overstates the relevance of sex/gender. Studies suggest that mothers are judged for going to work, [especially with pre-school aged children](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-44767657), and that [men feel pressure to be the breadwinner.](https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/husbands-stress-increases-if-wives-earn-more-than-40-per-cent-of-household-income-new-research/) - Even biological differences between men and women don’t apply to everyone. Women can feel more suited to very physical or 'masculine' jobs and men can have a strong desire to be stay-at-home parents. Human beings are extremely varied and saying that men and women should have different roles in society just conforms to outdated stereotypes.

It never said anything about how much these roles could overlap. Let everyone be free to choose what they want, but if the results don't turn out 50/50, don't prevent people from doing what they want just to fix your numbers.