Working moms in the news: The feminists made us do it

In the July/August edition of theAtlantic.com Sandra Tsing Loh writes about...well about choosing your choice.

I was laid off last September - my third layoff since May 2003 - I decided to stop forcing the issue already. My "career" didn't mean much to me anymore. I was regularly dealing with idiocy. Plus my area of expertise - niche technology marketing - is flush with people I don't like. I decided to try cobbling together some freelance work from home. It's going well, but not great enough to pay for full-time daycare. So I also spend 70 hours of bad to great quality time with my girls, while working in yoga pants and t-shirts.

I went from decent salary with huge chunk going to daycare (two kids in daycare = 2nd mortgage payment) to teenier salary all coming to me. And the gas price rise is not taking a bite either as the girls and I can walk everywhere but the grocery store. Admittedly I am looking for part-time work, an attempt at regularly scheduled money. With caveats though  - this PT job must be within walking distance of my home, because if I never have to commute again it will be too soon.

My take on our post-feminist (post-post feminist?) generation is that we get to choose our choice.I get to be picky about the location of my job because this is the era where I can/should have a job but also is an era (or should be) when I don't feel like I have to be working 9-5 with commute just to prove that whatever boys can do, girls can do better. Luckily we have a generation of men who understand - whether by experience with their own working mother or by wet noodle lashings by us - that despite our telecommute, freelancing or traditional 9 to 5 commute there will not be a martini waiting upon arrival home nor will there be a roast at 7:00 (unless someone remembered to put one in the slow cooker this morning).

So the feminists that came before me fought the good fight. And maybe women like Friedan and Steinam wouldn't be thrilled by my choice. Still I thank them for paving the inroads that allow me a choice at all.

Comments

[Homemaker Barbi (Danelle Ice)]

Great thoughts... I also agree that the right to have the choice now is key. And with commuting getting so expensive with fuel prices surging, the appeal of being able to work from home is high.
Homemaker Barbi

[Erika]

What a great perspective on this issue. I agree with you that we have a unique privelege in that we get to choose the way in which we contribute to our families. I'm so glad you're able to find a way to earn an income while spending such great time with your kids!

[Laura]

Thanks for the kind words Erika and Danelle.