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It's a choice, but women are obviously too dim to recognize that it wasn't truly a choice, it was because of workplace discrimination that they were oblivious to. And all that previous feminist claptrap about being empowered to make the decisions that were best for you without regard for others- well, we didn't mean it. You MUST base decisions that deeply impact your family entirely on whether or not it's good for feminism. You must do this even if you end up working for free or digging a financial hole because your daycare costs more than paycheck brings in.Although choice is an important right -- highly valued among Americans -- it can cover up systemic flaws such as gender discrimination in the workplace, according to a new study that will be published in the October issue of the journal Psychological Science."By using this idea of choice, we are really communicating that women are preferring to stay home and that they want to stay home and that there isn't a problem that needs to be fixed with the system," said study co-author Nicole Stephens. "That sort of mentality may reproduce a system that some might say is unfair to women."Stephens, who is an assistant professor of management and organizations in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, cowrote the study with Cynthia Levine from the department of psychology at Stanford University.The researchers conducted a survey and an experiment for the journal article. The survey found that stay-at-home moms who view their workplace departure as an act of choice experience a greater sense of well-being.However, these moms less often recognized workplace obstacles such as discrimination and structural barriers as sources of inequality -- even after being given real statistics about gender inequality.
Oh, I don't think this journalist realizes that's what she thinks, but she only gives lip service to women choosing to stay home with their kids. What she really wants is everybody's kids in daycare and all mommies on the job away from home. She (and the scientists she cites) seems threatened by Moms who choose to work away from home.
FYI, that last sentence should read: and the scientists she cites :)
ReplyDeleteDid you notice that the woman she profiled, the woman who apparently left her job due to discrimination that she was too dim-witted to detect, didn't actually leave the work force? The whole premise is that women leave the work force because they can't handle the discrimination, but the woman didn't even stop working! She just works different hours.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the fact that women don't realize how mistreated they are when they're confronted with "real statistics" about their plight, but the real math the woman used to calculate that she couldn't afford daycare is completely glossed over.
Did you notice that the woman she profiled, the one who left the work force because she couldn't handle the discrimination but who was too dim-witted to realize why she was unhappy, didn't actually leave the work force? She just works different hours now.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it seems that women don't realize how horribly they're being treated even after seeing "real statistics" about their plight, but the real math this woman used to figure out that she couldn't afford to work during the day is completely glossed over.
Struggling right now with being told my resume has a "red flag" because I have been home so many years raising my kids. I love my job being home, homeschooling, keeping house. I am only looking for a job because my abusive husband finally had an affair and left us. It's a hard road to walk. And much less support from the church about my desire to stay home, about looking for a work from home job.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ticia.
ReplyDeleteAmy, good point.
Anonymous, I am so grieved for your situation, I really am. Thank-you for sharing it. Praying for you, and for your church to have wisdom and discernment to see better how to support you and your precious children.
So sorry to read your story too anonymous. I get so tired of reading that women are "lucky" to be able to stay home. I know that in some situations it just might be impossible for some women to stay home, but those situations are the exception, not the rule. We pinch so many pennies for me to stay at home but I wouldn't change it for the world.
ReplyDeleteI personally know three women who CHOOSE to work and are proud of it. All three say they are better mothers because they work as they appreciate their children more when they are with them. That makes me so sad. Priorities are so messed up these days.
Shannon
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry to hear what happened to you. I understand that it is estimated that infidelity reaches more than half of all marriages, possibly much more than half (it is definitely underreported).
Have you read Ask the Headhunter by Nick Corcodilos? It is a fantastic website, book, and newsletter. I strongly recommend it. Please do not dismiss it because of the title. It has nothing to do with talking to a headhunter. He gives good career advice that can help people in your situation.
I have told my wife I will do everything possible to prove to her that I am faithful at all times, up to and including installation of surveillance equipment and software. We never spend the night apart, and I do not have relationships with any women that do not involve my wife. I would encourage every husband (and wife) to do the same. Perhaps I should go farther; I have heard of formerly unfaithful husbands signing postnuptial agreements giving their wives everything in the case of an affair, and vice versa. Anything to provide the security that my children could continue to stay home raised by their mother.
What I don't and have never understood is why women think the slavery and drudgery for strangers in the workforce is supposed to be better than the admitted drudgery of work in the home, work over which she has more freedom in pacing it, deciding her breaks and organising it and which is done for someone she at least at one time loved and probably for people she still loves too. Including herself for that matter (its her home too...).
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand that most feminist don't notice its a trick to get them participating in the capitalist economy and paying taxes and is about as liberating as changing jobs at best.
And I really hate it when society compares the plight of most working women to a few extremely "successful" women who have some of the worlds more meaningful jobs. Most British women are probably working filling in paper work (or moving paper based data to electronic records) of a kind which could only be seen as meaningful by the most detail orientated aspie the world has ever known.
I admit that in the main it's capitalism that bothers me, but feminism is capitalisms poodle.
I am surprised that you think feminism is a capitalist product, Sophia. Why do you think so?
ReplyDelete