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."
And wardaddy is better because?
Actually, she's very busy (more than I am at work) caring for our 22 month old manchild...the Tasmanian Devil and carrying another wee one in her womb as we speak.
Women pout or have tantrums. Men sulk or make loud noises like banging plates or slamming drawers to attract attention to the aforementioned sulking.
Passive aggressiveness is an art amongst belles...I would have thought you knew that. There's a bit of Scarlett in ALL southern gals.
I truly love women. My life is ruled by them. My wife, my widowed mom, my two young daughters, and yes even my ex-wife. It's just the way it is. I'd be lost any other way. It's best to give in to women unless it's a big major issue...in which case they'll defer to you anyhow...so you can take all the risk for the decision.
God love 'em.
My bad. Wardaddy is prison slang....and it's always been an amusing name to me since I first heard it. A wardaddy is a punk or bitch's big daddy in the joint. I got the nickname in west Africa a long time ago and it was in jest....nothing to do with chickenhawking. It was a joke from some ex British soldiers about my ability to dodge.
That's fine with me...since I don't work for you and am not married to you, it's no skin off my nose:-) I have to admit, I like your honesty.
What kind of bigoted claptrap is that? Is it your contention that, in any given marriage, only men are lazy? Would you say that the husbands whose wives fail to do their share of stereotypical male tasks - like lawn work, automobile repair, roof shingling, carrying the barbells up to the attic, etc. - had it "very difficult?"
Of course I'm 44 and still have babies coming....I'll be an old man still raising kids. I am eternally grateful for that. Were I a 44 year old woman....it would be much more of a stretch.
Actually I'm not so tough. My wife lurks my every post so I know I'm going home with some "splaining to do".
Honey!!!...I'm sorry I'll do your toenails tonight I swear!!...LOL
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