tuluum's Diaryland Diary
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Feminist Backlash
I belong to a lot of discussion mailing lists on topics ranging from embalming to mitzvot to politics. I enjoy them even though I get really sad and scared sometimes when people behave weirdly, from time to time I'll share the things I write there...
like now!
::excerpt::
I believe that being a good full-time parent
is much more important in the long run to society than any
qualifications or professions that have been deemed 'important' by
patriarchy. I think patriarchy has belittled traditional female roles,
and feminism inherited that same bias. Rebbetzin Heller calls it
'masculism' (
http://www.aish.com/societywork/women/Feminism_and_Judaism.asp ) You
now have men and women competing in the traditional male realms, but
the traditional female realms (esp. domestic) have not seen a
comparable population transfer, competition, or rise in social
esteem/regard. I suppose this is the same as when you asked something
along the lines of "now that women are doing men's work who is doing
the women's?". I think the work women were doing full time in the past
was extremely important to the self-esteem and values that were
imparted to the next generation and the stability of the home, now most
women only have half the time or less to be mother and wife, without
anyone picking up the slack in hours as the man too is in the 'field'
for the same hours. Women are now trying to fill 3 roles in the same 24
hours in which before they fulfilled 2 and the 'superwoman' syndrome
and fatigue and sacrifices that have to be made are very real. Doesn't'
something have to give? I agree with you that the vacuum that has
been created has had social consequences that are not wholly positive.
I don't understand why pointing this out should be problematic, all
movements have pros and cons. I consider myself a feminist, but I also
think that one of the greatest roles a human can fill is that of a full
time parent, I wish the economic reality would allow more homes to have
a full time caregiver (irrespective of gender) and that more people of
both genders did not look at full-time parenting as a non-profession or
step downward in terms of intellectual ability, mental challenge, and
personal success. But the economic realities and social expectations of
the day do not make it feasible in enough homes...
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2:46 p.m. - Sunday, Jan. 04, 2004
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