Letters to the Editor
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Blame her? Blame the greedy, selfish corporate attitude
It's not women's fault, it's the fault of right-wingers and corporations that work standards have slid over the past 20-30 years. BernieO's and Jared2's comments above come close to reflecting my reaction.
Is it women's fault that as they became more empowered in the '70s and more entered the workplace, big businesses took advantage of women's lower salaries and lower assertiveness to boost their bottom lines? Is it really women's fault, or their greedy, selfish bosses?
Is it women's fault that salaries have lowered (relative to inflation) over the past 30 years so that women now have to work for families to make ends meet, instead of it being an option? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to have a spouse stay home to raise the kids, as many of our parents and grandparents did? Now where is the business-defending, right-wing "family values" crowd on that?
Not only have job demands become more onerous for women and men, but the pressures on extended families have grown enormously. It sucks to have families fractured by the long distances many of us live from each other, largely because we've been forced to become more migratory to find decent jobs. The support system of having relations living in the same town or adjacent isn't there like it was when we were kids. Where is the "family values" crowd on that???
The writer of the original op-ed was I think out to stir up debate, as I don't think she can really take seriously the crux of her argument.