What the Womens’ Liberation Movement Has Done for Me
In the 1950’s, if a woman wanted to focus her energies on keeping a nice home, raising good children and perfecting her lemon meringue pie recipe, she wasn’t judged for that. In fact, society gave her a pat on the back and said “well done, ma’am”.
Well not so in the post women’s lib year 2005!
No, now we women have to “have it all”.
I’m expected to keep a mediocre home – after all we never entertain in our homes anymore. Whatever happened to civilized dinner parties with friends? I have a perfectly lovely dining room setâÂ?¦in my basement! Not only do we not have the time to entertain but few people that I know actually know how to be proper guests! I’ll admit I’m probably one of them. But I’d like to have a nice home someday and I’d like to be able to entertain graciously. Unfortunately, charm schools no longer exist and my blue collar roots only go so far into deportment. Women’s Lib has ruined it for those of us who want to be homemakers. In fact, the only people who are encouraged to be homemakers now are gay men!
Americans have let their basic courtesies and etiquette slip since they started letting daycare providers raise their children. I was walking through a store one day with my infant in his stroller, in front of me, when two men in cowboy hats looked right through me – and would have walked through me and my child if I hadn’t swerved off into a clothing rack. First of all, why were those men wearing hats indoors? Time was when a gentleman removed his hat at the door. And secondly, where is the courtesy in making a mother and child move aside for able bodied men? Women’s lib has given people an excuse to be rude.
Oh, did you know? I’m expected to let some day care provider raise my children now. In fact, ever since Hillary Clinton had the massive brain fart to write “It Takes a Village” everybody in America has been screaming for the “village” to take care of their kids. Well, I’d like to raise mine myself, thank you very much! If you don’t intend to raise your children, give them to someone who will! Quite frankly, I rather enjoy afternoon giggle-fests with my son and I love the music he plays on his piano while I write. He’s only 5-months old, so he plays off key, but I sing off key and he enjoys that, so we’re even. Women’s lib has made America label the stay-at-home mom as an underachiever.
Women’s lib has made marriages disposable now. After all, if we’re spending all of our time working on that high-powered career, who has time to work on a marriage? Good marriages don’t just happen. When you and your husband both work 50 hours a week, there is precious little time to work on keeping your marriage together.
What if I don’t want “it all”? What if I don’t want a Burger King breakfast on my way to dropping my son off at daycare? What if I don’t want a grande mochachino in the car on my way to my high-powered job that leaves me too exhausted to share quality time with my family at the end of the day? What if I don’t want to microwave frozen dinners for me and my husband before we retreat to our respective corners of the bed to sleep a couple hours before we start another grueling day? Why do I have to have a career AND a family? Why can’t my home and family BE my career? Whoever defined “it all” anyway? Some whacked-out women’s libber who hates women – that’s who!
What if I want to enjoy a home brewed cup of coffee in the morning while Regis and Kelly banter and my son coos in the background? What if I want to starch my own shirts? What if I want to throw a tennis ball around for my dog to enjoy? What if I want to bake the perfect 5-layer lasagna for dinner and prepare fresh cannoli for dessert? What if I want to be at home at 6pm to bathe my son, read him a story and tuck him into bed? What if I want to cuddle on the couch with my husband at the end of the day?
I consider “having it all” to be having a comfortable, clean home, a happy marriage that lasts “until death do us part” and happy, healthy children. Unfortunately, between Hillary Clinton and all those other woman-hating chicks, my desire to be a homemaker is suddenly suspect and America wonders what is so wrong with me that I would want to remove myself from the world in such a way. Well listen, if my being a homemaker makes me happy, causes my marriage to last more than the average 7 years and is responsible for raising a gentleman who will remove his hat when he enters a building and step aside for a mother and child then I’ve done my part in making the world a better place.
In fact, maybe our world would be a better place if women who wanted careers had them and weren’t made to feel guilty for not having children and women who wanted to have children weren’t made to feel bad about not having careers. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a man criticize a woman for being a stay-at-home mother but I’ve seen that same woman have to defend herself to other women.
Maybe it is time for us women to stop being our own worst enemies.
Get off my back, Hillary. I’ve got everything I want. Thank You.
