We’ve talked a lot about The Feminine Mistake by Leslie Bennett’s here on Blog Fabulous. I’m thrilled to have the publishers send a copy of this fantastic book to Lindley from my post Gloria Steinem Got Married.

My book club read it and it was one of the very few books that nearly everyone finished and then changed their perceptions. None of us can stop talking about it.

This book talks about work and women. It examines the benefits to women and their families if women work. It examines the real and present dangers if women do not work.

Here’s the thing – …read more

Pretend you see a photo of Gloria Steinem here. She’s lovely.
Did you see Gloria Steinem on Oprah? Oprah asked her why she got married in her mid-60s after she had been famously quoted as saying, “Marriage is death.”

‘Well, you know, … I’ve fought for 30 years to make marriage laws equal, so why not?’” the feminist icon said.

Mommy cried today, my daughter told my husband.

I saw Gloria Steinem on Oprah, I explained.

Truly, I was hoping to pass on to my daughter the profound gratitude I feel toward this woman for standing up to the status quo and insisting on women’s …read more

Can I just say this?
We keep hearing from heads of state, political candidates, senators, congressmen, businessmen, mainstream media and Wall Street that the United States is suffering from a labor shortage.
I call bullshit.
Look across the dinner table and see that beautiful wife? See your brazen sister, your wise mother and the really smart neighbor?
She’s not just a “SAHM.”

She has a masters degree.
She has a doctorate degree.
She’s got 10 to 20 years of experience in the labs, in the newsroom, in the office, in the market, on wall street, in the classroom, in virtually every …read more

You know what I find fascinating?
The religious conservatives, by which I mean the specific people in my life, who have always been the biggest influences on my own Internal Mommy Wars are in full, unequivocal support of Sarah Palin and have no doubts that can be both an effective mother and vice president.
Then why do you doubt that I can be both a great mom and fulfill my professional ambitions using the gifts and the calling God gave me? I wondered, as I lay sobbing during one yoga practice last week. If there is some distinction between …read more

I’m disappointed in you Barack Obama. No woman.

I guess you didn’t take my email very seriously.

Oh, and I never got the text message.
Image source: www.barackobama.com

The Battle Ground of Feminism is the Home.
Because I don’t necessarily want to have that battle in my home today, I’ll stick with citing examples from FEMININE MISTAKE, THE: ARE WE GIVING UP TOO MUCH?, by Leslie Bennetts.
“This opt-out thing is about false choices,” says sociologist Barbara Risman. “If you’ve been raised thinking you can do everything, and your husband works eighty hours a week, and you work eighty hours a week, and he’s not willing to budge an inch, and you never see your chilren, so you opt-out – that’s not really opting out; that’s being pushed …read more

I figure we could solve a multitude of problems for American families by doing these two things.
* Reduce the in-office workday by 1.5 hrs (assume 3:30).
* Increase the school day by 1.5 hrs (assume 4:00).
This way parents can swing by and pick up their kids on their way home from work.

It’s insane that our school day and our work day aren’t aligned. Its like we’re pretending that our nation’s workers and our nation’s parents are two separate people. They’re not.
In reality, what we’re doing is pretending that our nation’s mothers are still houswives. They’re not.
This …read more

If you’re a regular reader of Blog Fabulous you’ve likely read a comment left by my friend Rebecca. She’s the lawyer with the progressive husband Brett, also a lawyer. She’s coincidentally the one who recommended Hanky Pank Thongs, which I reviewed today. Hopefully, she took my advice about Hanes mens briefs for post-partum comfort. Steal Brett’s britches!

Well, she gave birth to Anders last week, a boy. But, he had to go back to the hospital for jaundice.

They’re home now. Hopefully for good. He’s a healthy baby boy and I have no idea who much he weighed.

Congratulations Rebecca & Brett! We’ll …read more

I find very few flaws in the logic of Leslie Bennetts in her book FEMININE MISTAKE, THE: ARE WE GIVING UP TOO MUCH?
Her logic is such that I find myself saying, She’s right. Why did I make such a self-defeating choice to quit my fulltime professional newspaper job?

Until the chapter where she reminds me why, exactly, I did just that as she advises women that Yes, working fulltime with little babies is a hell on earth where everyone loses – but take the “long view,” it’s only for 15 YEARS!

15 YEARS! Is that all?

Seriously, I lasted less than one year …read more

Mothers periodically reevaluate whether they should go back to work or quit their jobs – depending on their current situation.
I found these fascinating statistics in FEMININE MISTAKE, THE: ARE WE GIVING UP TOO MUCH?.
One Harvard and Cornell study found that
Women who were homemakers at the beginning of their three-year study and and then went to work full time reported a decrease in psychological distress.
A Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University and Women’s eNews study found that
Women who were employed full time and then dropped out to stay home reported an increase in distress, regardless if they had children. …read more