Monday, March 28, 2011

Follow Up Post

These articles demonstrate how difficult it can be for women to have both a career and a family.  Megan Pinand explains that sometimes women are told that they need to chose one or the other rather than have it all, a decision that fewer men are faced with. It is important to point out as Pinand explained that overall success is often measured in personal relationships as well as careers.  Thus, it is unfair for women to have to choice either one or the other while men are allowed to pursue both. 
My mother has worked as a schoolteacher while raising myself and my 5 siblings.  However she did switch from full-time to part-time when we were younger so that she had more time to spend with us.  Luckily, working at a flexible private school, she was able to return to full time when we all were a bit older.  In addition, like many other working mothers, she is the parent that usually cleans and prepares dinner.  Thus, after a day at school, she still does additional housework. 
As Barbara Ehrenreich explains, more women are maids than men.  This demonstrates how deeply engrained the idea of women as the homemaker is even in today’s modern society.  Housework is viewed as a female duty and thus falls into their realm of responsibility.  I definitely think it is necessary to question why this is.  So many aspects of society have changed; many more women are in the workforce however they are still expected to do the housework as well.  It is interesting that Mariarosa Dalla Costa sees housework as the commonality for women.  She explains that her demand of wages for housework is also a demand for power.  This view calls for a strike from housework, which is unique because many women share these responsibilities and thus the fight could be supported by millions of females.

1 comment:

  1. I was impressed by Tricia's post. I thought that it was very well written and I was also interested to hear that her mother had worked and raised her and her 5 siblings! Not to mention she also did the housework after she got home from work. I think Tricia's mother is a good example of the "type" of women who are "doing it all". Tricia's mother was able to keep a career, provide for her family, and raise her children. To me this is extremely impressive. More and more women today are balancing both careers and families, some without partners. I think that in modern society the stereotype of women being strictly family focused or career focused is becoming less black and white. People like Tricia's mother are showing others that women can be included in both aspects of life. Instead of these strict black and white definitions, women today are mixing the two and subsequently creating gray areas.

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