Well, I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be reading a Daily Mail article and nodding vigorously, but Why women don’t want top jobs is really worth a read.
Sexual equality is all very well.
But real equality comes from making your own choices, not just following the well-trodden path towards careerism, simply because it has been signposted by society as the only path to success.
Liberation must always be about being yourself, not simply a clone.
There’s the usual generalist nonsense in the middle which makes so many sweeping statements I was inclined to glaze over, but doesn’t detract from several very well thought out points that are expressed well.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Blue Witch // 22nd Apr 2008 at 11:35 am
If the article had been a third of the length and omitted the waffle in the middle, as you say, it might have made a useful point.
Didn’t know old Rosie was still writing! I remember her from her Spare Rib days (read in a friend’s hippy mum’s copy).
I think that men generally need/want to conform more to the ‘societal norm’ than women do (possibly because they don’t generally get the chance for a career break and time to reflect the way womeon do).
2 Paula // 22nd Apr 2008 at 4:53 pm
Hmm, without reading the whole thing that paragraph sums up what puzzled me about feminism and the like. Surely what is important is that we as individuals get to choose what we want to do as opposed to being told what to do. And if we choose to be homemakers looking after our own children then that is as valid as wanting to be (enter top career choice here!)
I think the whole working mum vs stay-at-home-mum has been very damaging.
3 Pewari // 23rd Apr 2008 at 7:30 am
Blue Witch: yes – having time out from the workplace has been invaluable for me, giving me the opportunity to assess what I really wanted out of life.
Paula: first of all, welcome back to the blogosphere! Nice to see you again :) Yes I totally agree with you about the working mum/stay-at-home mum thing – especially pointless as so many of us tend to belong to both camps in varying degrees throughout our kids’ childhoods.
4 Miss L // 23rd Apr 2008 at 9:33 am
As a mum from a previous generation, I would have hated not to have the choice of staying at home. I used to go around the bend at times when the post man was the only adult I would see in the day, but in the end you see so much of your baby’s development that you would other wise miss. And to be honest I don’t think I would ever have been organised enough to go out to work as well!!
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