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| Yes | 67% | 60 votes | Total: 89 votes | |
| No | 33% | 29 votes |
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Add to FavoritesOne of the core tenets of feminism is that every woman has the right to choose her own destiny. Whether that is working hard to become the CEO of a large company or staying at home to take care of her family, that is entirely up to the woman in question and her decision is something to be supported and accepted. However, while that idea is all well and good in theory, in practice it becomes a little more tricky to pull off.
Casting a look at the current state of the economy, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that things are tight all over, financially-speaking . What with businesses going under and unemployment rising to frightening levels, it can seem like a woman has already had that choice made for her by circumstance, and that she isn't capable of being able to choose her family over a career. However, I believe that if a woman truly wants to make the choice to put her family first that she can still achieve that dream. It's just going to take some compromising and adjusting of her situation.
It's no secret that money makes the world go 'round, and in this time of want every little bit helps. If a woman's family is financially strapped, there may be some pressure on her to find ways to earn money as a way of helping contribute to the family earnings. That may come across as being told to get a job, but it doesn't have to be. There are many ways to bring in money without having to leave the home. For example, if you have a plethora of goods around the house that are in good to fair condition, you can set up an eBay account and auction the items off. If you are creative and good with arts and crafts, you can list your wares on Etsy for sale. Either way, both options are a way of bringing in money without having to sacrifice your family for a dollar.
However, if things are so tight at home that a woman must go out and earn money more steadily, that doesn't have to mean that she must be deprived of her choice to stay at home with her family. Many companies are looking for people who will telecommute to work, which means that a woman can put in a full day's work from the comfort of her own home, thereby allowing her to earn a paycheck while still remaining available to her family for their needs.
This is not to ignore the possibility that there are those women whose situations are such that there is just no way of making ends meet without having to give up their desire to be a stay-at-home mother and head out into the workforce instead. This is a very real occurrence, and would understandably make a woman upset. What needs to happen then is that the woman and her spouse need to work out a rough plan of how much money she needs to bring into the household in order to keep finances out of the red as well as for how long this would be necessary. With a little bit of budgeting and communication between partners, a woman who prefers to be a housewife shouldn't have to be stuck in such a position for long.
Being forced back into the workplace can be tough on women who do not wish to be a part of it, especially if the reason they chose to be at home was for their children. However, if you look at it as bringing in money for the benefit of your children, then you are still exercising your choice to put your family first; just not in the way you had originally planned. Also, if you keep in mind that it's not for forever, that may help make it a much easier pill to swallow. But if a woman is not willing to compromise on her choice, that is where things will get very tricky very quickly. That is where the act of choosing becomes and avenue of unbridled selfishness, as that the woman is putting her personal wants above her family's needs. Not only is she putting the onus of earning enough money to support the family on her partner, but she is also not helping support her children financially, which can make things difficult for them as well. Pair that with a lifestyle that is costly to maintain, and you have a recipe for disaster, not only financially but martially as well.
In short, women do have the choice between their families or the workforce. It just depends on each woman's individual sense of ingenuity and what she is willing to compromise on as to whether or not that choice is feasible to follow through with.
Learn more about this author, Rose Calder.
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No
Women still do not have a choice between work and family, because society still attaches the family to the multitude of duties a woman must be responsible for. A woman in today's society can choose between having a family and working while still being expected to do a majority of childcare duties, or they can choose a career and no family at all. While American society has been making great strides since the 60's, when before then women had no legitimate economic opportunities to insure independence, but women still are not able to have a family and choose to work instead of childcare responsibilities because of the societal connection that associates childcare and housework primarily with women.
Suggesting that women had decent economic opportunity in relative to men prior to the 1960's is absolutely shameful. Only a person completely devoid of any knowledge of the history of American society could ever even dream of making such an absurd statement that women had even the opportunity for a career that a man could have. Women had no opportunities for any positions that had any responsibility or controls as a duty of the job, and none that could insure women an independent place in society without a husband. Period. Women were restricted to menial, low wage work and always, always, always were placed under men in the workplace. It is outrageous to suggest that because living standards have been raised that this is the reason woman must work and cannot remain at the home full time talking care of their children because of financial circumstances, and even more absurd to suggest that anytime before the 1960's women could legitimately choose between a family and work.
Fortunately, legal protections now enable a woman to have a career just as any man could and have a sustainable place in society as an independent individual. But if a working woman chooses to have a family, undoubtedly the woman will be expected to do more than half of the childcare and housework chores. The good news is this is only a societal structure that remains from an oppressive and sexist past, which means individuals, can rise above the expectations placed on them and operate as equals within their household. But these people today remain an exception to the societal norm of women doing more housework then men, and are not representatives of most American families.
The only way in which women can have a true choice between working and familial duties is in a society in which men and women are equals and oppressive norms are alleviated. And perhaps it's not such a bad thing anyways, having two working parents providing for their children. The need for childcare is a nonissue, as it has been proven by multiple research findings that early enrollment in daycares and schooling programs provide extremely beneficial early opportunities for socialization and learning processes, something a stay at home parent cannot provide.
Opponents of working parents will always attack with emotional appeals on your nostalgic heartstrings, of a perfect happy family with a working father and a mother that stays home with her kids and is as loving as can be. But this is just a fantasy of something that never existed, and never could exist. The only reason this system was held intact was because of oppressive sexist structures, and it's absurd to defend a family system that requires oppression to stay in place, and even to suggest that something as sexist as it was that this could be better for the children. Half of the children are females, and the structure requires oppression of females, so the only way it can be defended is a systematic favoring of one gender of children. This is neither a just structure nor a beneficial structure in any way, shape or form.
An equal and fair society is an unconditional requirement for women to truly have a choice between family and work, and unfortunately American society just isn't at that point, because of the societal attachment of women to childcare duties regardless of the mothers and fathers work status. The only family structure that can be best for children is one that encourages complete equality between the genders and stresses the importance of sharing all responsibilities within the household fairly between the mother and father.
Learn more about this author, Michelle R. Bishop.
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