The patriarchy is the water we're all swimming in, yes. It's infused throughout our culture. Your comment is strong evidence of this! You equate "challenging" with men's jobs (who defines which jobs are challenging and/or have high social status?) and describe "women's jobs" as rote and detail-oriented. Classic patriarchal thinking! Anyone who has ever been a full-time caregiver knows that the job is ANYTHING but rote -- it requires complex problem-solving in response to unexpected and ever evolving challenges. Plus, the consequences of failure (the safety, growth, and well-being of our children -- not to mention the ability for the parents, who make up a significant portion of our economy, to hold down jobs) could not be more high-stakes! And yet, caregiving work is grossly underpaid and routinely devalued. My husband has worked as a day laborer, a chemical processor (in full hazmat gear), a paramedic, and is now a doctorate-degree holding hand therapist, a job so complex it has a 7-year learning curve and the number of hand therapists globally is in the thousands. You want to know what job challenged him the most? Being a stay-at-home dad. I'd highly encourage you to rethink the value of so-called women's work. You can read more in "What My Partner Learned As a Stay-At-Home Dad": https://medium.com/@keralataylor/what-my-partner-learned-as-a-stay-at-home-dad-aed3376a68f8