Being Upwardly Mobile and All That ...

Megan Basham has an interesting article about feminists complaining that most women are choosing or preferring being stay-at-home moms over advancing in their careers, and because of this, are somehow being taken advantage of and should still receive wages equivalent to those of men who work full-time and overtime. Which is silly, obviously. But it reminded me again of how feminists have long struck me as a minority who claim to represent a majority, yet has no real idea what that majority actually wants (kind of like the current Republican party leadership). However, while feminists promote girls learning math and science, most women continue to seek degrees in the "soft sciences," like biology, or English, or medieval French art, or whatever. It's not because girls are not capable of learning or enjoying math, some certainly do, but I think there is evidence that most girls do not enjoy them. In the same way, while there are certainly women who do not want, or even like all that much, children, and are willing to dedicate their lives to shaping a powerful career, most women genuinely want to stay home, make babies, and then make cookies for those babies to eat. I know that's what I want to do.

This thing is, our current feminist culture makes me feel guilty for not wanting a career. I really don't enjoy being in the workplace. It's not that I'm lazy, or unintelligent, or "brainwashed by a paternalist, masochistic society/religion." It's just not where my interests and passions lie. Whenever I picture my future, there are babies and pies and reading and writing and providing a home for my husband. I got my degree because it's alway good to have a back-up plan, but I think my primary plan is a pretty good one. So why isn't it good enough for the so-called "women's movement"?