There's No Place Like Home...or is there?

Art Form: Writing
Type/Genre: Book/Manifesto

So, my Womens Studies class -which has profoundly affected my cognition- has just finished reading this book by Linda R. Hirshman entitled Get To Work (A Manifesto For Women Of The World). Hirshman is a radical feminist and writer who has been one of the catalysts of the brewing third wave feminism. She wrote an extremely provocative article called Homeward Bound in the American Prospect in which she denounced the influx of women who were opting to stay at home instead of pursuing careers. Her tone in this book is very inflammatory and I understand her urgency to relay this message to women. This book makes a valiant attempt to encourage women to pursue different goals other than staying home in order to keep them from permeating traditional family roles that allow for women to assume stay-at-home positions; which results in the marginalization of women. However, I do have several gripes with this book and Linda's message.

First, I don't think it is at all progressive for Linda, as a radical feminist herself, to polarize the women within the feminist cohort. Linda thoroughly vilifies all women who choose to stay at home. She posits that the women who make this choice actually believe that staying at home is a position that they should inherit; they do not actually delineate whether they should weigh other options. Basically, Linda postulates that women who stay at home are acting under false pretense. She says that the choice has faded and women are just accepting. While I don't agree with that, I want to say first that condemning stay-at-home moms and making them the pariahs in the eyes of working mothers does not benefit the feminist agenda. This kind of discernment of stay-at-home moms versus working mothers is only divisive. Staying at home is not always bad. I think that if you're comfortable enough to settle yourself at home without the burden of working and pursuing capitalistic goals, then you should do it. Hirshman says that educated women who stay-at-home eradicate their possibility of having any affect on the world because they're always in the house. That's not necessarily true either. Many stay-at-home moms write and also participate in their community. Also, every woman should not be inclined to enter the labor force and neither should every man.

I don't think that women who choose to stay at home assume that role. And I also don't think women who stay at home are doing a disservice to feminists or are hurting the feminist agenda. Calling all women to leave their homes and "get lives" will not solve the inequality of traditional family roles. It is still certainly possible for dual-earning heterosexual couples to fall victim to traditional family roles that could further marginalize women. Hirshman aims her vocation of entering the work force to college women and prospective female students. She urges them to set realistic goals, saying that they shouldn't study art but rather vest their interests in subjects that will afford stable jobs, lucrative income and resources. Hirshman also calls for women to take their jobs seriously for job security (establishing tenure) so that they don't end up in precarious lifestyles. She believes money is the fundamental panacea for traditional family roles that marginalize women because generally, the person with the larger source of income in dual-earning households exercises more clout.

I don't think that works. A woman could be a doctor or a lawyer and still be pressured into assuming traditional family roles such as nurturing children, cooking, cleaning and all the other essentials to prevent an unkempt home. The woman having money or a larger source of income than her spouse won't automatically allow her to place those or other responsibilities on her spouse. My resolution is marital bargaining. I think that if women do not want to be burdened with traditional family roles then they should engage in meaningful negotiations with their spouses so that both parties can resolve to equally distribute responsibilities of the home. I also firmly believe that if the marital bargaining does not work due to the apprehension of the woman's spouse, then she should be fully prepared to divorce or separate from him to alleviate any potential marginalization. A good [husband] will understand that the obligations of and for the home should be fairly split between the two so that neither person feels mistreated.

That's my take. If you're really interested in this, you should pick up the book and check it out. It's a very quick read; 90 pages. I definitely appreciated what Hirshman had to say although I disagreed with her premise.

P.S.:
Did you just..................congratulate me for reading?

P.SS.:
I want my son to think just like Huey when he's age 9.