I often look at the tags I have saved to see who has written wise (or not so wise) words on particular topics of interest. My tag of anti-feminism has always brought up interesting articles that sometimes I respond to and other times I’m too busy writing on other things to bother with all the posts I receive. But one thing is for sure, I am always guaranteed differences in opinion. This article on feminism and its impact on the role of women in the home is interesting in the way it reads like anti-feminists who are starting to spruik the idea they are more feminist than feminists’. Anti-feminists believe this because of their support for women in the role of mother and wife and their perception that feminism rejects these roles. Like many anti-feminists, the article begins with a very narrow stereotype; that of the modern wife. According to this article the modern wife is either flighty or organised. If we are going to categorise wives, it is highly likely they fit into more categories than simply flighty or organised. It is often the case that anti-feminists provide limited understandings and little choice of what it means to be a woman and/or a man in order to prove their point. The process of limiting this choice means anti-feminists can easily criticise feminism as providing wrong or unnatural choices for women. Women (and men) are well aware that to choose outside of these categories (for example the choice not to marry) is seen in a negative light.
The above article is interesting for the way in which it believes feminism is totally opposed to women remaining at home. It may come as a surprise that many feminists have proposed that work done in the home should be counted and given the same credibility as work done outside of the home. It is true that society doesn’t see housework or mothering as a full time occupation. Rather it is a full time, 24 hour, 7 day a week occupation. Yet even with this knowledge and the fact that a lot of women are employed away from the home, the majority of housework is still placed on the shoulders of women. Why is this so? Would it not be reasonable to expect that as part of a couple, both would contribute equally considering both live in the same house and both also work outside of the home? Would this not alleviate the amount of work women have to do? The answer, according to the author of the article, is that the amount of work women have do has increased because of feminism. This belief alludes to current debates about the myth of ‘having it all’. The creation of this myth is placed at the feet of feminism. According to some, it was feminism that encouraged women to work, have children and run a household simultaneously. Is this really the fault of feminism? Could it possibly be the case that feminism is simply an easy scapegoat for attention to be focused away from the inherent structures that have not changed at all. For example, inflexible work places, the continuing separation of home and work (even though some work places are starting to integrate the two), the reality that men do not really share the housework and that women still receive less pay due to opposition to equal pay. Is it possible that by blaming feminism the implication is that society has changed so much it now overwhelms us with false choices? This perspective implies something has had the ability to alter structures that are inherently right or even natural and because of these changes, there has been detrimental consequences. Yet at no point in this discussion by anti-feminists over changes caused by feminism, is it considered the structures themselves are the issue.
A further interesting comment is the idea that feminism has criminalised the mothering instinct. Rather than ‘criminalising’ anything, feminism has often explored and debated how empowering giving birth and being a mother can be for women. What some feminists suggest is that there needs to be a distinction between motherhood, being a wife and how these are shaped in present day culture. It also asks how giving birth and being a mother is viewed and experienced in other cultures. Should we be looking at just one understanding of motherhood as remaining at home looking after children while the husband goes to work? Feminism was also crucial for actually discussing some taboo topics in relation to motherhood. Motherhood is never as perfect as some anti-feminists suggest it is. In reading Monica Dux and Zora Simic’s new book, they suggest that motherhood is glorified on the one hand yet burdened with expectations on the other. In other words, motherhood is a complicated and sometimes rigid role that is highly scrutinised. Feminists have continued in recent years to explore new and different understandings of motherhood with emergence of the term ‘mother guilt’. Once again, feminism has contributed to understandings of being a mother that often contradict how it is portrayed by some anti-feminists. Discussion of motherhood by feminists also contradicts the anti-feminist view that feminism ‘criminalises’ motherhood.
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Can we really blame feminism? 07/10/2009
Tags: feminism, home, marriage, Monica Dux, motherhood, women and work, Zora Simic
I often look at the tags I have saved to see who has written wise (or not so wise) words on particular topics of interest. My tag of anti-feminism has always brought up interesting articles that sometimes I respond to and other times I’m too busy writing on other things to bother with all the posts I receive. But one thing is for sure, I am always guaranteed differences in opinion. This article on feminism and its impact on the role of women in the home is interesting in the way it reads like anti-feminists who are starting to spruik the idea they are more feminist than feminists’. Anti-feminists believe this because of their support for women in the role of mother and wife and their perception that feminism rejects these roles. Like many anti-feminists, the article begins with a very narrow stereotype; that of the modern wife. According to this article the modern wife is either flighty or organised. If we are going to categorise wives, it is highly likely they fit into more categories than simply flighty or organised. It is often the case that anti-feminists provide limited understandings and little choice of what it means to be a woman and/or a man in order to prove their point. The process of limiting this choice means anti-feminists can easily criticise feminism as providing wrong or unnatural choices for women. Women (and men) are well aware that to choose outside of these categories (for example the choice not to marry) is seen in a negative light.
The above article is interesting for the way in which it believes feminism is totally opposed to women remaining at home. It may come as a surprise that many feminists have proposed that work done in the home should be counted and given the same credibility as work done outside of the home. It is true that society doesn’t see housework or mothering as a full time occupation. Rather it is a full time, 24 hour, 7 day a week occupation. Yet even with this knowledge and the fact that a lot of women are employed away from the home, the majority of housework is still placed on the shoulders of women. Why is this so? Would it not be reasonable to expect that as part of a couple, both would contribute equally considering both live in the same house and both also work outside of the home? Would this not alleviate the amount of work women have to do? The answer, according to the author of the article, is that the amount of work women have do has increased because of feminism. This belief alludes to current debates about the myth of ‘having it all’. The creation of this myth is placed at the feet of feminism. According to some, it was feminism that encouraged women to work, have children and run a household simultaneously. Is this really the fault of feminism? Could it possibly be the case that feminism is simply an easy scapegoat for attention to be focused away from the inherent structures that have not changed at all. For example, inflexible work places, the continuing separation of home and work (even though some work places are starting to integrate the two), the reality that men do not really share the housework and that women still receive less pay due to opposition to equal pay. Is it possible that by blaming feminism the implication is that society has changed so much it now overwhelms us with false choices? This perspective implies something has had the ability to alter structures that are inherently right or even natural and because of these changes, there has been detrimental consequences. Yet at no point in this discussion by anti-feminists over changes caused by feminism, is it considered the structures themselves are the issue.
A further interesting comment is the idea that feminism has criminalised the mothering instinct. Rather than ‘criminalising’ anything, feminism has often explored and debated how empowering giving birth and being a mother can be for women. What some feminists suggest is that there needs to be a distinction between motherhood, being a wife and how these are shaped in present day culture. It also asks how giving birth and being a mother is viewed and experienced in other cultures. Should we be looking at just one understanding of motherhood as remaining at home looking after children while the husband goes to work? Feminism was also crucial for actually discussing some taboo topics in relation to motherhood. Motherhood is never as perfect as some anti-feminists suggest it is. In reading Monica Dux and Zora Simic’s new book, they suggest that motherhood is glorified on the one hand yet burdened with expectations on the other. In other words, motherhood is a complicated and sometimes rigid role that is highly scrutinised. Feminists have continued in recent years to explore new and different understandings of motherhood with emergence of the term ‘mother guilt’. Once again, feminism has contributed to understandings of being a mother that often contradict how it is portrayed by some anti-feminists. Discussion of motherhood by feminists also contradicts the anti-feminist view that feminism ‘criminalises’ motherhood.
Like this: