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Is a Woman’s Place at Work?
The American/AEI ^ | December 22, 2011 | By Christina Hoff Sommers

Posted on 12/22/2011 6:25:58 AM PST by US Navy Vet

Antipathy towards stay-at-home mothers goes back to the early days of modern feminism.

This house believes that a woman’s place is at work. That is the motion The Economist’s editors invited me to oppose in a ten-day, online, Oxford-style debate. A friend urged me to decline. The motion is silly, she said. No one can seriously defend the view that women must be in the workplace. You will be left attacking a strawman. Don’t do it.

Well, I did do it. I have spent years studying the organized women’s movement, and I knew the motion would not lack for serious defenders. Antipathy towards stay-at-home mothers goes back to the early days of modern feminism. In her classic, The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan called the traditional suburban home a “comfortable concentration camp” and described housewives as “walking corpses.” But Friedan was a moderate compared to feminist pioneer Simone de Beauvoir. Beauvoir once said, “No woman should be authorized to stay at home to raise her children … Women should not have that choice, precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make that one.”

(Excerpt) Read more at american.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: culture; feminism
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Food for thought.
1 posted on 12/22/2011 6:26:01 AM PST by US Navy Vet
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To: US Navy Vet
Antipathy towards stay-at-home mothers, breakdown of the home, hatred of true femininity, irrational fear and hatred of men, the slaughter of the unborn innocents, goes back to the early days of modern feminism.
2 posted on 12/22/2011 6:31:52 AM PST by PapaNew
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To: US Navy Vet
Call me old fashioned but, I think Women should stay home and raise the children. Unfortunately the overwhelming desire to have "one better then the next guy" over extends peoples ability to live on one income requiring the wife to go out into the workforce to bring in the extra income needed.

Leaving the children to be raised in a socialistic daycare center, from infants. Wherein "every one is a winner!" Then off to School with little parent involvement.

/rant

I could go on, and on. In this house we have done just fine on one income, and four homeschooled children. I will tell you there are going to be some very happy young men if my girls turn out half as good as my wife.

3 posted on 12/22/2011 6:41:23 AM PST by DYngbld (I have read the back of the Book and we WIN!!!!)
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To: US Navy Vet

A stay at home mom is despised because of the purity and truth of her beliefs. Those who refuse the self sacrifice of building a home for others (if life presents them the option) are angry because the wholesomeness of the stay at home mom reproaches them.


4 posted on 12/22/2011 6:42:14 AM PST by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: US Navy Vet
Women should not have that choice, precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make that one.”

That is why our taxes are so high--to force women into the workforce, and help break up the family bonds.

We don't live as well as my salary would indicate. We made the conscious choice for my wife to quit her job and stay at home when our first child was born. As a result of that decision, our family is very close, and our children are well adjusted.

5 posted on 12/22/2011 6:45:07 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: US Navy Vet

I am “at work” right now. I am about to wash the breakfast dishes and do some preparation work on the project we know as Christmas.

I am very happy with my job. :)


6 posted on 12/22/2011 6:47:05 AM PST by freemama
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To: US Navy Vet

Caring for children is an industry - soon to be unionized - so you know it has to be a profit center.

Many single/divorced women - raising children - work of necessity.

Many single mothers don’t/won’t work because welfare benefits are more lucrative. They don’t raise their children either.


7 posted on 12/22/2011 6:51:05 AM PST by sodpoodle ( Newt - God has tested him for a reason..)
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To: sodpoodle

You are wrong.

“welfare” is NOT “lucrative”

Childcare is expensive. What is not said is this: The life of a child at home is (with exceptions) superior to the life of a child at a day care center.

Let’s not have this thread devolve into a hate the poor who need a hand type rant.


8 posted on 12/22/2011 6:56:12 AM PST by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: freemama
I could pay my wife to do the Job she has.

I agree 100% my FRiend. My wife worked before we had kids, it geve her something to do, but for the last 16 years she has been a stay at home Mom. We have had to make sacrifices over the years, but we have always had food on the table, the bills have always been paid, and we are living nearly debt free. (we do have a mortgage)

It is not that hard to do.

9 posted on 12/22/2011 6:57:23 AM PST by DYngbld (I have read the back of the Book and we WIN!!!!)
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To: US Navy Vet

Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. Since maintaining a home (sans children) isn’t what it used to be before the advent of so many modern appliances, and since most of us are not rural any more, it’s not the job that it used to be.


10 posted on 12/22/2011 7:01:27 AM PST by SuzyQue (Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.)
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To: US Navy Vet
I should tell Mrs WBill that she "Doesn't Work".

Do you have a comfortable couch I can sleep on for a week or two? I'll be out on the porch, about 10 seconds after I tell her.

11 posted on 12/22/2011 7:01:45 AM PST by wbill
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To: US Navy Vet

I’ve been a stay at home Mom for close to 16 years. Yes... I’ve gotten the comments like , “I thought you were smarter than THAT?!” and “What do you do all day... don’t you see your life as not productive”. That being said, I have also gotten comments from many women that simply have to work that they are envious. They would quit their job in a heart beat if they could afford it. Through the massive amount of taxes, many women don’t really have a “choice” and I personally believe that will hurt our Nation in the long run.


12 posted on 12/22/2011 7:03:14 AM PST by momtothree
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To: US Navy Vet
I worked until the kids came. I've been a stay at home mom ever since. Wouldn't trade it for anything! Now that the kids are mostly grown, they are appreciative of how they were raised.
13 posted on 12/22/2011 7:03:49 AM PST by ladyvet ( I would rather have Incitatus then the asses that are in congress today.)
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To: US Navy Vet

“Is a Woman’s Place at Work? “

Depends on the woman. In Pelosi’s case, definitely NOT - at least not in her current position. But she might make a GREAT fish cleaner in one of those Tuna Fish Packing plants she used to own.


14 posted on 12/22/2011 7:04:57 AM PST by ZULU (Anybody but Romney, Ron Paul or Huntsman)
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To: DYngbld
I will tell you there are going to be some very happy young men if my girls turn out half as good as my wife.

And there's an excellent chance they will. My babies are 18 next month, and their big sister is 21 - all well on their way to being twice as good as their stay at home mom (me).

I pray for good men to love and appreciate our extraordinary women. They are out there - our oldest has chosen the young man who will be our first son, and he's a keeper.

15 posted on 12/22/2011 7:05:09 AM PST by Mygirlsmom (Disgusted with it all.)
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To: US Navy Vet
The feminist movement was just heating up when my husband returned to college (after his military service) for his graduate work and we moved to campus (for married students) with our toddler.

A representative from one of the mainline women's organizations came on campus to give a lecture to the 'women'.....

...it was the usual shrill diatribe that can still be heard...but at the time I was a naive young mom & wife and brought up very conservatively.

But even I could discern the distortions this feminist was spounting.

Included in few of her many ideas....she wanted us to drop our married names.....get a job....and assert our rights!-

---My husband wanted me home taking care of him and our child.

I loved my husband....proud to be his wife, take his name....and I loved motherhood.

But some of the women present and hearing this stuff bought into their propaganda!!

I was a stay at home mom..

...my daughter became a teacher & taught school for 8 years and now she's a stay at home mom....

..Through the years, I, and my daughter... continuing the tradidion.... have joyfully chaperoned school field trips....baked the cupcakes....volunteered at school....we are the ones the teachers and administration knew to call.

The feminists did a hatchet job on the joys ( &frustrations) of wife/mother, IMO!---They honed in on the frustrations and skillfully played those women.

They were not content till women left the home...leaving their children in daycare....and competed with the men.

Many women even at FR will think I'm broadbrushing overstating....and no doubt, might get tarred and feathered by some, even here...

..but I was there at the beginning and I saw the seeds fall.

The feminist movement talks about choice....I made my choice.

I stayed home...honored my husband...and enjoyed the wonderful (& sometimes frustrating) years with my children.....but count it all joy!

16 posted on 12/22/2011 7:05:42 AM PST by Guenevere (....We press on.....)
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To: yldstrk
A stay at home mom is despised because of the purity and truth of her beliefs. Those who refuse the self sacrifice of building a home for others (if life presents them the option) are angry because the wholesomeness of the stay at home mom reproaches them.

Thanks for making me throw up in my mouth. My wife works and is pregnant with our second child. She's no less of a "wholesome mother" because she works than those who sit at home and watch Sesame Street with their children. My son is well adjusted and developing faster than his cousins with stay-at-home mothers.

A stay at home mother is cooking, cleaning and doing many other tasks than constantly interacting with their child. My son sleeps for 2.5 of those hours and enjoys playing with his friends.
17 posted on 12/22/2011 7:05:59 AM PST by TSgt (Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.)
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To: TSgt

Did she refuse to stay home or does she need to work. Look how I phrased my comment. It doesn’t criticize those who need to work.


18 posted on 12/22/2011 7:09:38 AM PST by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: DYngbld
Unfortunately the overwhelming desire to have "one better then the next guy" over extends peoples ability to live on one income requiring the wife to go out into the workforce
That may be true for some, and more so today than 30-40 years ago. But the real reason women were forced to go to work was LBJ.
The costs of his Great Society and Vietnam War drove taxes up like a Saturn Rocket.

19 posted on 12/22/2011 7:10:13 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: yldstrk

You are a hothead


20 posted on 12/22/2011 7:10:25 AM PST by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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