By Heather Smith
Society has become a scary place for women. Seventy years ago, we were wearing cute sundresses, baking cookies for the kids and kissing our husbands when they came home from work just before eating dinner, which was on the table at exactly 5 p.m. Now sundresses have been replaced by power suits, and we grab dinner on the way home from work after picking the kids up from daycare and leaving some pizza in the fridge for our husbands when they come home at exactly 10 p.m. Or 11. Or 12. Or 4, once they've gotten the lipstick off their collars.
In any case, more is expected from us now. Why? Because we are women. Therefore, we are perfectly capable of standing on our own two feet, receiving a degree in Thermocalcuphysiometry, contributing to/making our own income and, basically, changing the world. On top of this, we can pop out babies and bleed without dying.
But what about those women who still remain at home, taking care of the kids and making dinner every night for their husbands? If they're older--I'd say 40 and up--it's okay. Because they were raised way back when, while we women were still oppressed and hadn't yet unleashed the power of our roar. It's true that they still have the opportunity to better themselves--it's never too late for college--but if they don't, it's still okay because "they're just set in their ways."
Now think about the younger people who are "home makers." Who first comes to mind is a girl who got pregnant at 15, possibly received her G.E.D., got married to the first guy that would take her and now cleans her trailer compulsively because it's the only skill they have.
Okay, that may be a bit extreme.
But it's undeniable that modern women who choose to stay at home to take care of the house and kids are looked down upon. It's as if they're disgracing all the work that women have done throughout the years to prove that we can do more than just cook and clean. The only women who should ever stoop that low again are those who are unable to do any better.
Time out.
Feminism is about women being equal to men. Therefore, we can say what we want to say, act how we want to act and do what we want to do. And no man can tell us otherwise. But what's wrong with women wanting to focus their attention on the home and family? That's right. A modern young woman who wants to knit her husband a sweater while she watches Oprah and taps the baby bouncer with her foot. I'll wait for you to pick your jaw up off the floor.
We should at least have a choice. After all, that's what feminism promotes: the choice to branch out and compete with men in the workplace. We just forget that there are other choices we can make, and that one of them is to be a homemaker. To be at every parent-teacher conference, to make your home a place to be proud of, to have a fresh, warm meal on the table when your husband gets home from work--to do anything and everything that may otherwise be impossible as a woman with a career.
Society has become a scary place for women. Seventy years ago, we were wearing cute sundresses, baking cookies for the kids and kissing our husbands when they came home from work just before eating dinner, which was on the table at exactly 5 p.m. Now sundresses have been replaced by power suits, and we grab dinner on the way home from work after picking the kids up from daycare and leaving some pizza in the fridge for our husbands when they come home at exactly 10 p.m. Or 11. Or 12. Or 4, once they've gotten the lipstick off their collars.
In any case, more is expected from us now. Why? Because we are women. Therefore, we are perfectly capable of standing on our own two feet, receiving a degree in Thermocalcuphysiometry, contributing to/making our own income and, basically, changing the world. On top of this, we can pop out babies and bleed without dying.
But what about those women who still remain at home, taking care of the kids and making dinner every night for their husbands? If they're older--I'd say 40 and up--it's okay. Because they were raised way back when, while we women were still oppressed and hadn't yet unleashed the power of our roar. It's true that they still have the opportunity to better themselves--it's never too late for college--but if they don't, it's still okay because "they're just set in their ways."
Now think about the younger people who are "home makers." Who first comes to mind is a girl who got pregnant at 15, possibly received her G.E.D., got married to the first guy that would take her and now cleans her trailer compulsively because it's the only skill they have.
Okay, that may be a bit extreme.
But it's undeniable that modern women who choose to stay at home to take care of the house and kids are looked down upon. It's as if they're disgracing all the work that women have done throughout the years to prove that we can do more than just cook and clean. The only women who should ever stoop that low again are those who are unable to do any better.
Time out.
Feminism is about women being equal to men. Therefore, we can say what we want to say, act how we want to act and do what we want to do. And no man can tell us otherwise. But what's wrong with women wanting to focus their attention on the home and family? That's right. A modern young woman who wants to knit her husband a sweater while she watches Oprah and taps the baby bouncer with her foot. I'll wait for you to pick your jaw up off the floor.
We should at least have a choice. After all, that's what feminism promotes: the choice to branch out and compete with men in the workplace. We just forget that there are other choices we can make, and that one of them is to be a homemaker. To be at every parent-teacher conference, to make your home a place to be proud of, to have a fresh, warm meal on the table when your husband gets home from work--to do anything and everything that may otherwise be impossible as a woman with a career.
