Neo Feminism
Ugh, SSRD, just sent me this link that discusses this horrible NYT article
regarding Ivy League women, and the “in 10 years, I want to be a mommy
or a CEO” mentality. *Sigh* This feels like Wellesley in
the 50s. This excerpt struck me the most:
The interviews found that 85 of the students, or roughly 60 percent,
said that when they had children, they planned to cut back on work or
stop working entirely. About half of those women said they planned to
work part time, and about half wanted to stop work for at least a few
years.
Two of the women interviewed said they expected their
husbands to stay home with the children while they pursued their
careers. Two others said either they or their husbands would stay home,
depending on whose career was furthest along.
The women said that
pursuing a rigorous college education was worth the time and money
because it would help position them to work in meaningful part-time
jobs when their children are young or to attain good jobs when their
children leave home.
If you’re going to give up your law career, why do it for babies? There are plenty of better things…
Saheli
September 20, 2005 @ 2:44 pm
What I disliked about the article, besides all the already noted complaints was that there was no attempt whatsoever to find out what the young *men* thought about the issue. How come no one ever asks male college sophomores how they intend to take care of their kids when they’re 35?
ToastyKen
September 20, 2005 @ 6:55 pm
If my wife made a decent living, I could totally see myself working part time at least for a while to take care of kids, and to take some paternity leave soon after they’re born, but I would want to go back to working full time at some point.
ToastyKen
September 20, 2005 @ 6:58 pm
Btw, as for things other than babies, I think the desire to have and care for babies is just something that’s a very deeply engrained instinct in most people, but there’s variance, and some people don’t desire it as much?
echan
September 21, 2005 @ 4:28 pm
I didn’t count the number of times the term “many” was used as a quantifier the the article, but Slate tallied them up.
Saheli
September 23, 2005 @ 10:41 pm
Woops. She went to cough, ahem, cough, Columbia, and this was her Master’s Project. Oy.
echan
September 24, 2005 @ 1:11 pm
I also like how the Times reported on this “new trend” in 1980, and how one of the young Eli’s they quoted as an example of this trend is now a Senior MD at Blackstone with 3 kids.