Does empowering women really make men less 'relevant'?

Article here. Excerpt:

'Of course, as the traditionalists see it, feminism made the fatal mistake of empowering women. In the last five decades, women have gained a plethora of rights; women have access to birth control, to education, to economic opportunity. As women have become more powerful and independent, the thesis goes, men began to question not only old chivalric codes, but the whole need for self-restraint. Why should men continue to protect women when women insist on being able to take care of themselves? The greatest benefit of the "old ways" was that a man could have his ego and his self-esteem boosted by knowing that he was needed by the fragile, delicate, vulnerable women in his life who relied absolutely on his strength and self-control.
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Male privilege is not a guarantor of either happiness or health, and trying desperately to play the part of protector and provider has robbed generations of men of both. Feminism, in concert with these many new and exciting reproductive and contraceptive technologies, offers men a chance to rethink and re-evaluate their worth and their purpose. It offers them an opportunity to be intimate allies with their female partners, to forge relationships based on more than duty and dependency. It gives men a chance to be loved for the wholeness of who we are, rather than solely for what we can provide.'