Alexis Ohanian: Robotics Will Soon Equalize Parental Opportunities for Men and Women

• At a Milken Global Conference panel discussion, Alexis Ohanian stated that robotics will even out the parental playing field.
• He mentioned that affluent households will shortly acquire robotic assistants to handle routine parental duties.
• The other participants noted that parenting involves more than just household tasks—and women typically handle most of the caregiving responsibilities.

Parents who feel overwhelmed will shortly have the option to delegate their routine domestic chores to robots, enabling them to focus more on their kids. This comes from Andrew Mason, the co-founder of Reddit and an active technology investor. Alexis Ohanian anticipated on Tuesday during a Milken Institute Global Conference panel about parenting.

Ohanian, who has two daughters with his spouse, the renowned tennis player Serena Williams , referenced a TED Talk by Swedish physician Hans Rosling about the magic of the washing machine when outlining how robotics will bring about a similar revolution in the next few years.

"For women, for mothers, they spent such a disproportionate amount of their time doing laundry by hand, that when this machine showed up in people's lives, it was a major, major revolution in terms of women's lib and freedom and time," Ohanian said.

He stated: "What I'm hoping for is that we have reached a point now where robotics That likely within the next two to three years, higher-income families—and as we know, advancements in technology will rapidly reduce costs—will be able to acquire something that puts your Roomba to shame. A device that truly handles much of the household chores.

The discussion Ohanian took part in centered around parents striving for a healthy integration between their professional lives and family time as they raise kids in today’s society. As the sole dad on the panel, Ohanian mentioned that progress in robotics technology will play an essential role in easing the "unequally shared burden." caretaking work This responsibility frequently lands on mothers instead of fathers in modern times.

Ohanian expressed his hope that "robotics, which initially only the wealthy will possess, as was the case with similar technologies, could eventually become widespread among numerous households. This development has the potential to be a remarkably effective means of reducing disparities by saving people’s time."

The other participants in the one-hour discussion included

Eve Rodsky, who wrote "Fair Play," along with Becky Kennedy, the founder and CEO of Good Inside They pointed out that although women frequently handle most basic work such as grocery shopping and doing laundry, parenting encompasses much more than just completing these tasks.

"Until we encourage men to embrace their complete role in the family unit, similar to how Alexis has done—meaning true partnership rather than dominance or merely assisting with tasks when needed ('just let me know what to do and I’ll pitch in')—we will likely keep observing these inequalities," Rodsky stated.

Ohanian concurred and expressed his hope for more men to "take initiative" and join in routine activities such as bringing their children to medical check-ups — an act, he noted, that "men generally avoid doing," based on common observations. data ."

In recent years, Ohanian has emerged as a prominent supporter of paternity leave, an aspect where he noted that the tech sector has "set the standard" for working parents. He collaborated with President Donald Trump’s initial administration to promote a 12-week paid leave program. parental leave For all federal employees, this legislation was enacted by Trump in 2019 during his initial term.

Ohanian described bringing up children as an incredibly inspiring journey that compelled him to adopt a broader viewpoint. He expressed his desire to motivate more individuals, particularly those from lower-income families, to embrace this shift in perspective by making it easier for them to have kids.

Ohanian stated, “Becoming a parent turned out to be incredibly humbling, particularly for someone like me—who has admittedly always put themselves last. This realization became crystal clear as having a child provided me with motivation beyond my personal goals. It made what I’m working on feel more meaningful than just serving myself. The whole journey felt almost spiritually enlightening.”

Ohanian did not promptly reply to Business The News Pulse’s request for commentary.

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