New York Times
In the early '70s, breaking out of the domestic cocoon, leaving their mothers' circumscribed lives behind, young women felt exhilarated and bold.
But the more women have achieved, the more they seem aggrieved. Did the feminist revolution end up benefiting men more than women?
According to the General Social Survey, which has tracked Americans' mood since 1972, and five other major studies around the world, women are getting gloomier and men are getting happier.[...]
Maureen Dowd is the dumbest writer in the NY Times (which is saying a lot), if not the dumbest anywhere in the mainstream press.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a surprising result.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the assertion that women have greater freedom. Not all. The feminist movement has made women free to fill the roles that men had previously been filling, but not free to fill the roles that women has traditionally been filling "housewife (now a bad word) and mother." A woman who chooses to be a stay-at-home-mom is assumed to be intellectually or educationally deficient, and suffers the scorn of the woman who elect to have a professional career instead.
The feminist movement has enabled women who believe that men disrespected them for being wives and mothers to join those who disrespect women for being wives and mothers.
Women are in a no-win scenario. Men of baby-boomer age and older grew up largely with mothers who were there when they got home from school and were "housewives." This is what they were raised to desire. They might appreciate the income that a career woman can bring, but then there is still the expectation that the wife will do the things the mother did, and this causes most career women to rightfully complain that they're still stuck with their unfair share of housework, cooking, child issues etc...
So, career women are more stressed and less appreciated (and still not equally paid at work), and the housewives get the endless message from TV, society in general, and career women that they have wasted their lives and are putting an unfair economic burden on their husbands.
No wonder everyone's less happy.
Joseph said...
ReplyDeleteMaureen Dowd is the dumbest writer in the NY Times (which is saying a lot), if not the dumbest anywhere in the mainstream press.
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your comment doesn't really contribute anything. Why don't you tell us why you think that her comments were dumb.
Actually she is saying things that I have heard from rabbonim for many years. I don't think you would say they were dumb.
DT:
ReplyDeleteActually, as usual, her conclusion is the dumbest part of her article:
"Stevenson looks on the bright side of the dark trend, suggesting that happiness is beside the point. We’re happy to have our newfound abundance of choices, she said, even if those choices end up making us unhappier."
I doubt any Rabbonim will agree with that conclusion.
"Buckingham says that greater prosperity has made men happier. And they are also relieved of bearing sole responsibility for their family finances, and no longer have the pressure of having women totally dependent on them."
ReplyDeleteAu contraire. Perhaps the worst thing wrought upon society by feminism.
This paragraph is indicative of a deep societal sickness:
ReplyDelete"One area of extreme distraction is kids. “Across the happiness data, the one thing in life that will make you less happy is having children,” said Betsey Stevenson, an assistant professor at Wharton who co-wrote a paper called “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness.” “It’s true whether you’re wealthy or poor, if you have kids late or kids early."
Michoel,
ReplyDelete"This paragraph is indicative of a deep societal sickness"
I'm not so sure. You forgot to include the last sentence of the paragraph, which I think is key:
"“Across the happiness data, the one thing in life that will make you less happy is having children,” said Betsey Stevenson, an assistant professor at Wharton who co-wrote a paper called “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness.” “It’s true whether you’re wealthy or poor, if you have kids late or kids early. Yet I know very few people who would tell me they wish they hadn’t had kids or who would tell me they feel their kids were the destroyer of their happiness.”
It seems to me that the study simply confirms what every parent knows - that raising children is one of the most difficult, exhausting, and gut-wrenching endeavors that a person can undertake. And yet, many of us undertake it because we also know that it has the potential to be one of our most fulfilling endeavors as well. I'm not sure what "deep societal sickness" is revealed by this observation.
Sof sof, the writer is saying that kids make modern women of all societal segments less happy. So it shows that their values are tanked. I don't think we undertake parenting because we know how fulfilling it can be. I think we do it because we are responsible people. And if we do it because it "can" be fulfilling, we are setting ourselves up for some real frustration.
ReplyDeleteSince Yom Kippur is almost here may be this topic would warrant an interesting discussion.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the following article on Ynet.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3780402,00.html