Thursday, March 09, 2006

Ladies and Housewives

Well, I hope whomever googled "ladies were meant to be housewives" from Austin, TX found what they were looking for here.

I suggest you go read about the mommy wars at Miriam Peskowitz's site. Or you could check out the new letter on "Mommy Wars" Incited by Irresponsible Media" by Kim Gandy, the president of NOW.

Here's a compelling topic for a future feature: How can our society better support mothers and caregivers so that they can choose to work either outside or inside the home—whether it's full-time or part-time—without additional guilt, financial strife or other barriers? How can workplaces, educational institutions, the public service sector and our government make caregiving a more respected and less stressful endeavor? Paid family leave, recognition of the work of caregivers by providing disability and unemployment insurance, Social Security credits, group health insurance, respite care services, public transportation and early childhood education in every community come to mind, but there are many others.

It is also crucial to talk about men's role and responsibility in parenting. Women need to know that they don't have to do it all. For example, men who choose to stay at home with their children are often ridiculed or overlooked, rather than supported.

See? Most feminists do care about sah moms. And they're doing a lot more to actually help them than the people who tell housewives to just appreciate what they've got, or those that tell them they've made a bad choice, you patriarchal tools, and now you're stuck in your not "particularly interesting or fulfilling for a complicated person, for a complicated, educated person"* rut. Damn extremists.

*quote from Linda Hirshman's Good Morning America segment. I'm not going to link, you'll have to find it yourself on ABC's American Family section.

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