Sometimes I wonder if Linda Hirshman likes the taste of her leather Manolo pumps? She’s given another interview, once again attacking her favorite subject: the stay at home mom. She argues that any time spent at home raising your child is a waste of your precious degree. She also claims that in order to have the most power, you need to have only one child max, and stay away from degrees in art. The entire interview is here.
As someone who now works part-time and would love to stay home full-time with my daughter, I totally disagree with Ms. Hirshman. The point of feminism is to give all women choice. We have the choice to work or not to work. We have the choice to study art or study business. (And besides, Linda? Your degree was in Philosophy. I don’t see you CEO’ing any businesses with a degree in that.) We have a say in our reproductive rights. And telling women they should only have one child max, and that child should be put in daycare so you can keep working, is no better than a conservative man telling women their place is in the home, having several children and caring for them.
Yes, I am an educated woman. True, I have a Bachelor of Arts in History, which qualifies me to do little more than spout off facts about British monarchs, but it also shows I went that extra step and have a well-rounded college education. With my education, I have the power to do the most important job in the entire world, more important than any CEO of a major corporation or the president of any university. I have the power to teach my children. I will teach them about tolerance, about equality, and about the value of history and its ability to repeat itself if ignored.
My being out of the work force for a few years to raise my children will not have the catastrophic effect you say it will. I have no ambitions to be a corporate drone. And I do not see how being a corporate drone, a backstabbing, climb-your-way-to-the-top-clawing-and-kicking member of the business world will bring me “influence, honor, compensation, a way of being political and a hand in shaping the world around you.”
You and I, Ms. Hirshman, are clearly from different worlds. You scoff at volunteer work and think a fancy corporate job with a big paycheck is the only way to shape the world. Yet I could point you to thousands of volunteer organizations that, with the help of their volunteers, are changing the world for the better. What can your 3-piece suit job do to shape the world, other than inspire new heights of greed and commercialism?
And where is it written that a woman can’t do great things working part-time? There are many female professors teaching their classes, writing books and attending conferences, all part-time so they can have a greater role in raising their children. Plus, you always seem to leave out the fact that men are also finding a way to stay home with their children now. You say that women are the ones who naturally are forced to care for their children. Well, maybe the real truth is that men have been forced to be the ones who worked, and only now are finding it easier to ask to be stay at home dads. The walls of gender restrictions are coming down for both genders – let’s not limit it to women.
Finally, I pose this question to you, Ms. Hirshman. What is your advice to a woman who works at a daycare and then has children? She is clearly working as you would want her to. Should she put her child in daycare so that she can continue to work at her daycare? Doesn’t that seem just the slightest bit silly?
Linda, quit giving feminists a bad reputation.
Also, please keep those ideas coming for my contest. The deadline is just over a week away, and I could really use a new logo, tagline, or t-shirt!
Oy. My mom was out of the workforce for nearly 15 years, and it didn’t hurt her any. She had a career, decided to raise her kids, and then decided to go back to school and start a new career. This is bad???
I don’tknow her but I’m going to have to read the article. From what you’re saying, I’m sick. She’s clearly got some major defict in her life that she compensates for by condemning other women who have made other choices. generally it’s guilt, or pure insecurity.
But to condemn volunteerism? What the fuck? Who in her right mind has issues with charity? Even Bill Gates would tell her to piss off on that one.
Okay, read it. ARGHHHHHH.
Why does her agenda take priority over any individual’s personal freedom? It’s not all about her.
I quit reading her crap right after…her first sentence months ago! She is an idiot and she gets all the attention an idiot by spouting off her ignorance. Ignore her and she will go away.
One of the most memorable things my father taught me is that it takes all kinds of people to make the world turn…but honestly, I’m not sure Linda Hirschman counts. I cannot understand how someone can spew such drivel and have people actually consider it thoughtfully. I’m all for working if that’s what you want but staying home and raising my kids is the most important thing I, personally, have ever done and probably ever will and to hell with anybody who tries to diminish that.
To be fair, Hirshman is aware that her views run counter to the “feminism is about choices” party line. Her whole point is that choice-feminism has not removed the glass ceiling and that we need something a bit less squashy.
Ha ha! You think I’m defending her!
No, really, Hirshman sucks. As you so eloquently point out, her dogma has nothing to do with changing the world and everything to do with forcing women into her soulless cookie-cutter corporate model.
Great post. The real value of people like Hirshman, I think, is all the blog fodder they provide.
Oh, man, again?
Won’t they just all shut up?
I’m going to have to wait until tomorrow to read this. Am exhausted and cranky and sensitive about wasting my multiple degrees on my amazing daughter (not).
Remember, ladies, whatever you do is wrong. If you go to college and then are a SAHM, you are wasting your degree. If you go to work you are neglecting your children (no matter how badly you need the money). If you don’t go to college and get married and have children early, you are an undereducated loser. If you choose not to have children, you are selfish.
As long as you feel bad about yourself, that is all that counts. Because then advertisers can play on your insecurities and sell you stuff to make you feel better about yourself.
In other news, I linked your c-section post over at
http://linkateria.blogspot.com
So very well-put. I keep thinking that if I stay home I’ll be “wasting my degree.” But, I’ve talked with my bosses and, I would always be welcomed back at our station (so long as I didn’t just up and quit). As we fenangle our finances, it becomes more of a possibility and… I couldn’t be happier. Even though I’ll still be paying student loans. 😉
That woman is a moron.
Amen. That woman is a kook and I agree with her that SHE shouldn’t have more than one child. As a matter of fact I’d recommend none since that sort of intolerant inflexibility doesn’t bode well for a successful mommy. But then what do I know…I just have a BA myself.
Trying to surpress the rage….trying…not…to get…crazy over this……………..
Not working.
Going to go beat her up now.
Yikes. Yikes. I try to realize that opinions are like armpits. We all have them… and they all stink. However… this one is EVEN more offensive than most.
…sigh…
I would love to get paid for just pissing people off. Where do I sign up??
OMG who does she think she is? This just angers me, she needs to come down from the clouds and visit the real world for a few minutes!
GRRRRR!
I am too irritated at the moment to have anything articulate to say. I’m off to read this twit’s interview…
Wow, I’m back, and now I’m even more irritated. It’s good to know she can single handedly fix society with her opinion.
I’m off to pop an aspirin and go get my degree. I figure i might as well train the dog to pee on it. Cause according to my friend Linda, that’s about all it’s worth now that I have kids…
While finishing up my Master’s Degree I got pregnant with #2 and for a while I felt like I was wasting my degree only because of what people around me said. I’m glad I stuck with what I really thought deep down inside. Raising my children is the most important thing I will ever do.
I cannot believe this woman is going around saying this. I sure hope moms out there do not believe her. She clearly has some major problems.
This woman is a nut job. Don’t let her bother you.
i’ve never heard of her but i’ll have to read the interview. some people are just plain stupid.
Great post, very well put.
It never ends — these Mommy wars — because people like Linda just don’t shut up. I hate that stuff.