ABSTRACT
From their very births, people are prescribed future pathways which, more commonly than not, limit their life experiences and possibilities. Based on their ‘prescribed’ gender, they are then told about their own limits, duties, future roles and responsibilities, and indeed, how to engage with the future itself. Men are expected to be the ones who transcend their mind, and to be in charge of the future. They are ‘the chosen ones’ who bring about social, technological and political changes, anticipate where power will move next and preach radically new prophecies. The future continues to be gendered in a very specific and rather conservative way. For example, the three most pressing challenges of the twenty first century and for people's collective future – ecological, economic and violence related – are a consequence of previous patriarchal gender arrangements. Where a minimum of gender-role differentiation is imagined or practised, it is usually accompanied by a minimum of overall dominance patterns taking place.
