A Culture Warrior's Manifesto: Roles Within the Home

My fiancee just asked an interesting question in the comment section of my blog. What are my opinions on the roles of men and women in family situations? Put simply, it depends.I do believe that it should NOT be determined by gender alone. Women were not mandated by any power to ONLY spend their time in the home, and men were not mandated by ANY power to spend all of their time being breadwinners. Both men and women provide their own strengths and weaknesses to the family unit, and those strengths should compliment each other and off set the weaknesses.Take my fiancee and me for example: I'm outgoing, she's not. I'm a big picture guy, she's a detail girl. I'm confrontational, she's diplomatic. Now, as to which of us is better suited to stay home and which is better suited to bring home the proverbial bacon? That remains to be seen for certain, but I've noticed that I tend to be the one who is more comfortable in the work place. She has admitted to me (in a blog entry she never posted) that she likes the "homemaker" title, and she does seem happier since being home all the time allows her to take care of her mother when she needs it. Because of this, I believe I would be the ideal one to bring home the money while she took care of things at home.However, this belief is by no means the only one I hold regarding this issue. To make a long story short, I believe that it's between the couple who stays home and who goes to work. But let me be clear. I do believe that SOMEONE should be home all the time, at least until the kids reach high school age. This provides much needed security for the children, and in today's world, that security is VITAL to the development of a child.So I suppose what I'm saying is, it doesn't matter who goes or who stays, as long as someone does. But who that is, is up to the couple and only the couple.