Letters to the Editor
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stupid accusations
It's always gotta be an arguement of the sexes. Why can't we stop pointing fingers at each other and all take the blame. It's true women are inferior to men, but men have their downfalls too. It makes me sick to my stomach that I have to live life as a women. Somedays I wish I was dead, or born a man. Nevermind, I just wish I was dead.
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Mothers Only
I think the pressures of the workplace have more to do with outsourcing, downsizing and layoffs than they do with feminism.
However, I think women made a mistake in defining workplace benefits as "benefits for mothers". Among some women (not all!) there is still the attitude of "we deserve this because we're mommies and mommies are more important than everyone else" rather than "this is something that everyone can benefit from". People who might otherwise support these benefits end up thinking that they're "special perks".
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To Cataract:
I just want you to know that I am glad you are with us and making a contribution here. I am sure you also make a contribution at work and to people you know.
I hope you were joking when you said you wished you were dead.
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To Cataract
What AKA Smith said. You are necessary here and wherever else you are. And I do not believe that you, AKA Smith, any of the other women here, or I are inferior to men.
You are valuable.
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@ KayWWW
I think the larger point is that we all need a life outside of work and time to enjoy that life, whether or not we choose to become parents.
All the Mommy Wars and those disagreements between single/childless women and those with children really do is keep women snapping at each other instead of addressing the inequities that still exist against women. I hope to live long enough to see the day when all those women who work as clerks at Wal-Mart and Target are included in the women's movement and benefit from its values. If feminists have made any mistake it is that of not being inclusive enough.
My personal belief is that fewer people should have children. From what I have seen of the world and of families, truly great parenting is a talent many people lack. The world doesn't need more children but more of a commitment to making a better place for people who are already here.
Nevertheless, as long as we support reproductive choice, we must also support the right for women to choose to bear children. Once children are actually here, it benefits the world to make this a good place for them. Usually that means a fairly regular day. Not picking them up at daycare on time can result more stress on the family -- which people with children will in turn bring to workplace, making it still more stressful.
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It's the Economy Stupid
Not men. Not women. Capitalism. Whoever works harder gets more. Not a perfect system but it does give you choices. The great news is, if you don't like the rat race, get off the treadmill.
@cataract
Don't read broadsheet if your depressed, it will definitely make you feel worse. This is ground zero for bad manners in gender relations. I don't believe anyone here thinks men and women are not equals, we just disagree on everything else.
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Don't blame, don't accept, change things
As per the last para, yes, why blame either sex? Funny thing about the article is that it seems to be about whether or not an argument is fair to one sex or another more than whether or not an outcome is desirable for anybody. If we had done more what some Europeans had done-accept and deal with sex differences—we would probably have had a more equitable and sane outcome for all. But to do this requires that we accept some sex differences in the first place, like childbirth and lactation to be obvious, and like sex differences in styles of competition o be less so. However, this, most of our American feminists have never liked to do. G. Steinem, for instance, still regards any social science work on sex differences to be the gender-equivalence of the Tuskegee race experiments. It’s this, the dogmatic insistence that sex and race are the same, that has done us in. But to insist that race is any empty biological category works, while to insist the same for sex has always felt at least slightly false to most people. With sex, to do what is good for everybody requires the recognition of broad difference-my favorite example being Norway, I believe, where they sensibly recognized that males wouldn’t take parental leave when it was offered and preferred to stay in the office where they could be seen striving: when they forced everybody to take these leaves, it seems to have been a relief to all. So don’t be afraid of difference, and just deal with it, and then we can all have a bit of sanity.
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Haven't I Heard This Before?
Only, the last time I heard this story, it was the new guy and the union members. The new guys comes in, and starts working really hard to make a good impression. The union guys pull him aside and say hey, knock it off. If you work that hard, they'll expect all of us to work that hard!
Is it true? Of course it's possible. I have no doubt that a woman or two could come into an office and raise the workload without raising the pay. But is this a widespread problem, plaguing America as we know it? I would have to see some evidence to believe that it's more than just an anecdote.
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Maybe the problem
isn't that work wasn't "redefined" and job expectations lowered. That's too radical and the profit motive is the profit motive (and economics is economics - you can't get paid for not adding value). Maybe the "problem" is that when women entered the workforce instead of sticking to teaching and nursing, we doubled the supply of labor for jobs that had traditionally been men's province. So, the buyers - employers - could afford to be choosy while we (men and women) sold our labor for ever lower prices per unit because we had to compete with more and more other people able to do the same job. As long as anyone is will to work like a dog (and someone always will be in a capitalist society), employers can hold out for that.