Careers are 'making women miserable'

Daily Telegraph ^ | April 25, 2002 | Paul Stokes

[Korth]

WOMEN have become unhappier as a result of concentrating more on their careers than the family role they once fulfilled, an academic claims in a new book.

Prof James Tooley believes the feminist revolution of the 1960s and 1970s brought about huge changes in attitudes which have not be conducive to motherhood.

In his book, The Miseducation of Women, published next month, he suggests many professional woman would have been more contented by staying at home and bringing up children.

He draws comparisons with the film character Bridget Jones, a love-hungry young woman in publishing who becomes a television presenter and craves a stable relationship rather than being left "a singleton".

Prof Tooley, professor of education policy at Newcastle University, considers that the role of housewife has been "desperately undervalued" in society.

He argues that schools should allow girls to concentrate on the arts and domestic science rather than being pushed towards subjects such as engineering and computer science in an attempt at sexual equality.

Prof Tooley, 42, who is single with no children, said yesterday: "The Bridget Jones effect is growing in society. Women find themselves successful in their careers and unhappy in their lives.

Domesticity has been degraded over the year, particularly by feminists in the 1970s who used the phrases 'parasite' and `leach' to describe the housewife.

"I expect career women will react very strongly against me and to even suggest women would be happier in the home has become almost a taboo. We need to cull a few sacred cows and start a debate on the subject. That is what I am trying to do."

He describes his book as "largely a think piece", based on a study of more than 100,000 men and women in Britain and America by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Its findings led him to examine the way the education system was shaping the way women lead their lives.

Among his assertions are that women who were pushed into science as pupils and embarked on careers such as law and accountancy are unhappy by the time they reach 30.

Prof Tooley, from Rothbury, Northumblerland, said: "I'm not suggesting we ban girls from the labs, but my research shows that 30 per cent of young women are unhappier with their lives than previous generations were, while young men now seem happier than previous generations were."

Prof Tooley believes the "Bridget Jones generation" was spawned by the feminist revolution.

"Feminists went right to what they thought was the root of the problem. They looked at schooling to change the situation. The Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 and the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1988 are, in a way, products of that, and they've transformed what is taught in school.

"But this means that the curriculum is now designed according to the feminist idea that girls should be following the model that was set down for boys. That is, pursuing a career at the expense of all other things.

"I suggest that this is pushing girls in a direction they don't want to take and there's a whole generation of working women who don't want to be there."

[Dinsdale]

Well, it's about time Liz Taylor found another husband, isn't it? :-)

Beauty is just a light switch away.

[Lorianne]

Actually, "whining and sitting on your @ss blaming others for your choices and feeling sorry for yourself" is an excellent definition of feminism!!!

I have to disagree. It took a lot of pro-active organization and work to get a lot of things changed. Things don't change by just sitting around doing nothing. Therefore that is not a good definition of feminism because even those who oppose feminism have to agree feminists have been very busy indeed the last 50 years.

As to whining about not having children, I suspect there aren't as many women whining about it as there are people who would like them whine so they can say: I told you so. For those who really are whining about their own decisions, neither side has much sympathy for them.

In any group of people (male or female) there are always a percentage who complain but do nothing, often don't even bother to vote. That's fine by me, it just gives others with the ability to formulate a plan and execute it more leverage. :-)

[The Giant Apricots]

It took a lot of pro-active organization and work to get a lot of things changed. Things don't change by just sitting around doing nothing. Therefore that is not a good definition of feminism because even those who oppose feminism have to agree feminists have been very busy indeed the last 50 years.

OK, fairly said, so I fairly cede the point.

[Hawkeye's Girl]

What if I marry a guy with a Ph.D. in quantum computing? Then I'd still make less than him :)

But, yes, if he wanted to stay home with the kids while I went out to make the dough, I'd be willing to seriously consider it. However, there aren't all that many guys chomping at the bit to be homemakers; the exceptions do prove the rule in this case.