This latest "duh" headline has brought out the usual band of haters claiming, once again, that women in the workforce are the reason for the downfall of the country. Yet, where are these same haters when families realize that one income doesn't cut the mustard? Are these same haters equally as vocal about fighting the war on the middle class?
There are a lot of families I know who wish they could have one parent at home with the kids, but reality doesn't work that way. Most of the women I know work. They don't work for vacation money or fun money like they did back in earlier times, they work, because if they don't, the mortgage doesn't get paid, and the food doesn't make it to the fridge, but you wouldn't know that by the way the boys are on tv screaming about women this morning.
This headline comes on the heels of Sheryl Sandberg's encouragement of women to "lean in" and take the bull by the horns. She has been advocating for women to champion their dreams and goals in the workforce, so it doesn't surprise me that the backlash has been particularly vicious. What sticks in my craw about this issue is the idea that women are being told what is supposed to make them happy and fulfilled.
By telling working women that they are destroying America, because they want a life outside the home, you are telling them that the validation they feel by working is devious and willfully destructive. Back in the '40s, women entered the workforce as temps to fill in while the men were at war. Immediately after the war, the ladies were expected to surrender their jobs. Many tales have come out now where the young, working women of that time were told by the bosses who fired them that they were the best workers the boss ever had, and if given the choice, the boss would have liked to retain them. Women continued to work in the '50s and '60s to a lesser degree, although you would have never known it from tv, which seemed to revel in the idea of the perfect housewife and mother stereotype. Thankfully, the '70s came around along with the Second Wave and women re-entered the workforce with a vengeance. However, the income earned from their work was mainly seen as fun money, not the serious money that helped the family survive. With the increased rate of divorce and more women putting off marriage, combined with a large rate of inflation and stagnant wages, mom's income is no longer fun money.
If you are a stay-at-home mom, and feel completely fulfilled by it, then Mazel Tov! I have friends who can't imagine not being at home with their kids, and feel that they are at their best when motherhood is the central focus of their lives. I tried to be stay-at-home mom and failed miserably. I love spending time with my kids, and having a clean and organized house, but I also love the validation I get from using my skills to produce a great event. I like the comradery of being part of a team, and the idea that long after my girls have moved out to begin blazing their own paths I will be able to have something that fulfills me. I'm not sure how that is destructive or how I am being willfully divisive, but there are a whole lot of boys on tv screaming this morning that I, and my other female working counterparts, am somehow responsible for the country's deterioration.
I guess, according to the verbal diarrhea spewing from their fat, white faces, that our supposed lack of presence in the home has torn this country apart and destroyed the youth. Nevermind the decade of war, constant offshoring of jobs, 40 years of stagnate wages, a culture that promotes men being love 'em and leave 'em playas and the 'greed is good' mentality, not to, again, mention that conservative men have been so busy regulating our vaginas that they haven't been advocating for better conditions for American families that would enable a single-income household to survive. Nope, it's all my fault, because I can't be 100% happy wiping snotty noses and folding laundry, and I have a crazy desire to use my college degree.
The point is that men just need to stop telling women what should make them happy and focus on giving women the support they need to be happy. They also need to stop being pussies and worrying that a few more gals around the board room table means they are, somehow, going to be ousted from their jobs (you know, like we were back in the post-war '40s). Men and women can co-exist just fine in the workforce, and when they work together, much to the chagrin of the conservative patriarchy, the workforce actually becomes a better place to be.
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