CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Since prehistoric time, virtually every tribe, society and culture has been dominated by men. Women's biological nature as smaller childbearers tended to keep them home, while males ventured out to seize opportunity.

For endless centuries, men were the chief breadwinners. Even today, the average U.S. male earns $430,000 more than the average female during a 40-year work life, according to the Center for American Progress.

However, this former reality is dissolving rapidly, and genuine equality is snowballing in America. A cover article in the latest Atlantic magazine begins:

"Earlier this year, women became the majority of the work force for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women, too, and for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same."

The rise of women in America's economy is a powerful transformation that barely is noticed. It accelerated in recent decades because male-dominated manufacturing jobs keep vanishing, while female-friendly office work is more secure. Of 8 million jobs lost in the recent Great Recession, three-fourths had been held by men.

The Atlantic continues:

"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women now hold 51.4 percent of managerial and professional jobs -- up from 26.1 percent in 1980. They make up 54 percent of all accountants and hold about half of all banking and insurance jobs. About a third of America's physicians are now women, as are 45 percent of associates in law firms -- and both those percentages are rising fast. A white-collar economy values raw intellectual horsepower, which men and women have in equal amounts."

Although men still occupy most multimillion-dollar CEO posts, a relentless growth of female corporate officers will occur because women today earn 60 percent of all American bachelor's and master's degrees.

"We can see with absolute clarity that in the coming decades, the middle class will be dominated by women," the magazine says. ". . . In a stark reversal since the 1970s, men are now more likely than women to hold only a high school diploma."

America's founders triumphantly declared that, "all men are created equal." Modern society is amending that motto to make it gender-neutral. Democracy is rooted in the principle of equality, and it's finally becoming real, for the first time in world history.