Posted on 04/26/2002 9:12:13 AM PDT by 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."
The firm for some time has been aggressively promoting women. But they have a problem -- many of the women are asking for part-time or flex-time work because of family requirements. It's difficult to promote them over the men when the men don't ask for that favor.
Also, many of the women have quit. Both because of family requirements and because they don't like the long working hours associated with the profession.
I am a female physics major who's graduating this year from my college and then going over to the local University to get a Master's in Electrical Engineering. My reasoning is simple. I want to get married, have kids, and stay home with them; unfortunately, I'm still single while all my friends are either engaged or in long term relationships. So I might as well be able to support myself in a field that I enjoy while I keep looking. No guy wants a leech for a wife.
I'm trying to think of a snappy comeback to this but I can't.
Cordially,
I have a feeling that's how most conservative men raise their daughters ---to have a way to support themselves ---just in case. Self-sufficiency vs welfare if they are later abandoned or widowed. Hitting the job market at over 40 with no resume can be a very difficult situation, I know a woman with a double degree and no job history who was told at age 44 that her degree didn't mean anything since hadn't worked.
Not that I think there is anything wrong with stay-at-home moms. I'm just saying that not all women with careers need be miserable. It really depends on how husband and wife are willing to work things out.
AND in my own personal case, i get a whopping $94 a month for my two kids as my ex-husband has been "finding" himself for the last 12 years., i.e. getting an education (PHD) in lieu of working and sending child support money
he does plan to start his career THE MOMENT the youngest turns 21. (legal limit where child support discontinues).
not all of us can live in fairy land and have hubby support us.
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