Guess what girls? The males do the pregnancy bit, not the females.

How often over many years have I heard that cry from my women friends - “if only those men could get pregnant they would REALLY know what it was all about” – said as they clutch tired backs and weary bodies, lumbering pregnant again out of the supermarket, while the husbands sit in air-conditioned offices enjoying the intellectual stimulation of work.

This is mind-stretching research I am reading.

This particular branch of the evolutionary tree has bent the gender stereotype, swapping the traditional roles of mums and dads. They are the only animals known throughout the animal kingdom where males get pregnant.

What endless possibilities this gives to the females of all species.

I just have to hope that the male seahorses are actually ahead of the game of reproduction, not millions of years behind.

In studying the seahorse scientists have discovered that though the fish have no external genitalia that we normally associate with males and females, these clever- devil scientists classify animal sexes according to the size of the gametes (sex cells) they produce. Males produce the sperm (the smallest gametes) and females produce the eggs (the biggest gametes).  

In seahorses the sperm producers are also the ones who become pregnant. The female transfers her eggs to the male’s abdominal pouch created out of modified skin.

The male then releases sperm to fertilise the eggs as they enter, before incubating them for 24 days until they are born.

Now, that’s enough of all the scientific detail we need to explore, but let’s look at the endless possibilities for the future.

If these clever scientists can work out a way to create an abdominal pouch in a male human, what a transition would take place in our society.

Suddenly the guys would be sorting out the washing and doing the boring shopping bits while their wives swanned off to work in those air-conditioned offices, earning fabulous promotions, lunching out with business associates all on the office credit card.

Meanwhile hubby yet again collects the kids from school and deposits them at their music lessons/ netball practice/ maths tutoring class and reads the daily bulletin from school to make sure the next day’s excursion is sorted. I love it!

Men have being getting a bad press for some time, associated with domestic violence. If they could turn the tables and take on the role of pregnant mum, they would earn HUGE brownie points.

I mean, every young mother I know could become the sex-goddess she promises one day to be, but is far too tired to accommodate within the present system. (If she prefers she may even have time to read a book in bed).

The seahorse dad provides all the nourishment the new babies require to develop. In fact he is quite awesome; just as every woman in the world who reproduces is already awesome, capable of producing all the nourishment her baby will need while it’s growing in the womb.

We need more studies into this possibility. How about some crowd- funding for research? There isn’t a woman I know who wouldn’t jump on board and contribute.

Bring it on!