On questions like this I always ask myself. Who would I like to be reincarnated as? (My first choice is always one of my sisters absurdly pampered cats). When I was born 50 years ago, I think I was very fortunate to be born a white male in the US.
I'd still think that was best option up until that last 20 years ago. I think it is marginally better to be born white in this country, although Asian is pretty close. The good news is that ethnicity is less important now days.
As far as gender is concerend I do believe that the pendulum has swing over, and I think I rather been reincarnated as woman than man today. While woman do face some discrimination (IMO as much by fellow woman as men and I believe there is evidence to support this), they pretty much can do anything men do and are generally accepted. Woman doctors, generals, pilots, astronauts, CEOs. cops, lawyers, truck driver, professional athlete not a problem. But woman have a options to do things that still get a snicker when men do them. For example: Male model, stay at home dad, nannies, strippers, kindergarten teacher, scrapbooker, ballet, sewing, romance novelist, trophy husband.
So while opportunities for woman have expanded tremendously, and a single career woman with no kids,or kids but without a husband are perfectly acceptable. After marriage a woman can continue to work or not.
In contrast the roles for man haven't changed much in the last 50 years. The expectation is that men will pursue woman and even pay for initial dates. After marriage the man is still expected to be the primary bread winner. In divorces, woman still are awarded primary custody. It is still ok for woman to be emotionally, but not ok for men.
It seems me that woman now days have a lot more options than men. I think life is pretty grand if you are cute girl with wealthy parents (aka Paris Hilton). So in my next life I plan on being the cute daughter of 2nd generation Asian-American tech entrepreneur.
