Posted on 09/05/2008 9:56:29 PM PDT by Lorianne
I called my husband hours before the Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin was to speak before the Republican convention. I asked him how many kids she had. Five, he said without missing a beat. How many does McCain have? No clue, he said. Romney? He caught on quick (he's used to these pop-quiz phone calls).
He said, well, wait, Palin's been in the news, blah blah, and I said, save your breath. I had no clue either just how many kids John McCain had, and I had absolutely no excuse: I had written TV news for a decade when four of his kids were still quite young.
I probably wrote about the candidate, oh, a hundred times, ranging from tiny mentions to longer stories. And why didn't I know how many kids he has? Because, of course, he is a man. And no one asks those questions of a man.
If you are wondering, he has a total of seven kids, and the four youngest were born during his early days in the Senate. How did he ever manage to "do it all"?
Consider this my open apology to the Alaska Governor for reacting like a Victorian prig on word of her selection as McCain's running mate. Truly, my first thought was "doesn't she have a baby? And one with Down's Syndrome?" Then I thought, "wait, she has four other kids TOO?"
After that came the next wave of pernicious speculating, after it was revealed that her teenaged daughter is pregnant. "Isn't she going to have to clean up that mess too?"
Now, granted, I do have one mitigating factor for this incredibly sexist line of interrogation for the VP nominee. Palin has aggressively billed herself as a mom, and so thinking of her in that role is inevitable.
But that is no excuse. Questions about who's doing drop-off and pick-up, who is changing the diapers, who is in charge of the kids are ones that never enter my mind with a male politician. I call myself a feminist or something like it, but who am I kidding?
think I would have been less inclined to internally grill Palin before I had kids. Now that I'm a parent, my sexist attitudes spring not just from preconceived notions, but from the reality that I see day in, day out.
It's not just some ill-founded impression we all have about women and their double burden of home-life responsibility. It is the reality. The women on average are quite literally cleaning up the messes, even if they are working just as much as the man.
And I am complicit in this inequity all the time, because I enable the fathers. As a room parent at my son's school last year, did I demand the fathers' email addresses along with the mothers'? Nope. When I recently wanted to set up a play-date with my son's friend, did I get in touch with Dad, even though Mom works just as hard, if not harder? Nope. If some child has his shirt on inside out, or has grimy fingernails, do I ever secretly tsk tsk Dad? Nope.
And who do I blame in my own home if clothes remain unwashed, or toddler teeth unbrushed? I blame myself, of course, even when my highly-evolved husband insists that he dropped the ball too.
So I congratulate Governor Palin, and the fact that as a working mom she didn't tsk tsk herself out of her own ambitions. She doesn't need another finger wagging in her face. And from now on, this finger-wagger will be sitting on her hands.
Linda Keenan is a contributing writer at Burbia. Linda worked 7 years as a head writer/senior producer for various programs on CNN. Before that she worked as a writer/producer for Bloomberg TV. She now writes satire, primarily about parenting culture, at Thoroughly Modern Mommy ...
That is an interesting bit of introspection.
Just the beginning. Sarah is going to attract more women than even McCain ever dreamed. The voting both is private, women compose over 50% of America....you do the math.
One’s in the Army — how much time does Sarah have to spend picking up after him?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Lot of that going around the last 48 hours. Just ask Sally Quinn.
Actually, she will only have 3 children living in the VP’s house.
You are correct, but there’s more:
There are more women of voting age than men in America
More women than men are registered to vote in America
A larger percentage of registered women voters actually turn up to vote (compared to registered men voters
_____________
The women’s vote tipped Bush into office in 2004. It may do more than that for McCain.
Bump for later reference.
Hillary will be of minimal if any assistance to Obie.
I can’t get over how many liberal women can’t stand her. One told me she has not been able to SLEEP since Sarah was chosen. And they start to go on about how she should be with her baby, and that women are just different.
What shuts them up is to say, “Then what about the gay men who have babies?”
I have 4 kids, one with special needs, and work out of the house. I have had a few people ask me how I do it all, and I just DO what needs to get done. I am much lazier, though... For instance, I would never want to deal with endless hockey practice. Yikes. My house is also never going to appear in House Beautiful. I need my down time.
However, I have worked with a few women who run circles around me. These really are Superwomen- they are smart, driven, generous, and full of energy. I remember talking to one of them and finding out she never sat down. Ever. Even when home, she didn't relax. I have always been in awe of them, and can truly say that there is something special about that type of woman. As far as I can tell, Governor Palin falls into that category.
No, she still doesn't get it. Men and women are different: They have different priorities, and they bring different things to the table when it comes to raising kids. This is why children need a mom and a dad.
She doesn't blame the dad when she sees the shirt inside out or the dirty fingernails because, subconsciously, she knows that these are not dad priorities. The kid isn't harmed by the shirt being inside out, and the average dad wouldn't even notice such a thing. The only harm is to the mom's ego.
Interesting that the women’s vote really put Bush over the top in ‘04. Considering it was a very close election, every vote counted. And, considering that the liberals/Democrats were always said to be the beneficiary of the gender gap by attracting more women’s vote. But they got a surprise that most women don’t vote on “women’s issues” such as abortion, and most women aren’t in the liberal lunatic fringe.
They are making a big mistake if the dont get Sarah on every talk show in America before election time....with hubby. The woman is a gift....she makes people like her.
Can someone call me when they find one between 25-32 who actually does this and doesn't just complain like they learned to on some crappy 90's sitcom? I don't ask for someone to clean up messes, I merely ask for some help instead of pathetic helplessness when there are messes to be cleaned up.
/rant
This is rather amazing. Good for her. A true apology.
Not being a woman myself and not trying to sound sexist in this post, I would consider the following.
Modern life offers many things making the domestic side of life easier and more efficient.
Dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, washers and dryers, swifters, self scrubbing cleansers, cellphones, internet shopping, strip malls with a dry cleaner at every corner, One stop shopping stores, 2 cars in every garage, etc etc.
I suggest that these things have allowed for the modern woman more time for other things in her life.
ping.
I think you’re going to want to read this one.
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