Conservative Student News

photo credit www.netcast.usf.edu

Are you a woman? If so, you need to stop what you are doing right now and take a deep breath. Let yourself relax for a few minutes. Say out loud: “I am not Superwoman and she doesn’t exist.”

The Women’s Movement is a double-edged sword. While it succeeded in gaining women numerous political and social rights, most importantly the right to vote, it has also backfired by creating and maintaining a false standard of female perfection.

While women potentially have more opportunity in the workplace and government than at any other point in history, but they are burdened with a self-imposed standard for success that is impossible to attain. Consequently, women today are stressed, overworked and often depressed.

Bay Buchanan—former U.S. Treasurer under Ronald Reagan and current President of the American Cause—recently addressed a group of college-aged women in Washington D.C. on this topic. As a single mother of three boys, Buchanan was able to share her perspective on juggling work and family life.

Buchanan stated that we are in an unfortunate state of affairs today because women feel like they can and must simultaneously have a career, a family and a happy marriage. Buchanan says that a career, by definition, requires that one constantly be pushing ahead and moving up the ladder. Thus, in a career, you must dedicate the majority of your time and energy to securing advancement by working long hours and constantly building your own network of people and resources to support you.

Meanwhile, since being a parent is an around-the-clock occupation, it would be impossible to have a successful career and also spend enough time with your children to adequately perform your role as a parent. While Buchanan said it is feasible to be a mother and have a job—an occupation that has regular hours and in which one is not seeking promotion—it just does not make sense to try to juggle a career and parenthood at once.

This false norm of female perfection oppresses women and also takes responsibility away from men. By telling women that they can do it all, feminists have essentially removed husbands and fathers from the picture.

Rather than viewing marriage as a cooperative relationship wherein each partner becomes stronger by combining mutual strengths and talents, feminists see marriage as a glorified matriarchy. Marriage becomes meaningless because women can do just as much if not more without men at their side.

Likewise, instead of relying on the help and support that a father can provide, mothers are told that they are independent and capable of doing everything on their own. As a single mom, Buchanan attested to the strength and ability of women to raise families on their own. At the same time, however, she said that when her children were young she had a job (not a career) with regular hours so that she could be there for them when they needed her.

Buchanan’s philosophy could be concisely summarized in the words of Reba McEntire, star of the WB’s hit sitcom, Reba, that profiles the ups and downs of life as a single mother of three: “Women out there all know that being a single mom is hard. You have to balance a full day of work with taking care of the kids and the house, and you get absolutely no help at all. … It ain’t easy. You have twice the responsibility and half the money. But at least you get more respect from your kids... oh, wait, I’m thinking of my imaginary children.”

So why do so many women think that they can and should advance in their careers while they are parents? I believe that this is a delusion that women have created in their quest for equality with men. Why? Because feminists have given into the prideful temptation to outdo men at all costs. Men do not expect women to live this way—they do not expect women to do the impossible—these are self-imposed restrictions.

As women, we are doing ourselves more harm than good if we view life as a battle between the sexes. If a woman chooses to stay at home with her children or only work part-time, she is not slacking off. Neither is the woman who chooses to put off raising a family while she focuses on her career.

These women are rational and self-respecting; they recognize that the time and energy required to be a full-time mom or a full-time professional are too much for any one individual to take on concurrently. Men recognize this, yet unlike many women, they don’t feel guilty for acting upon this common knowledge. Most men choose to have careers and some choose to be stay-at-home dads, but I’ve never heard of one who tried to do both. Only women are this ambitious.

In her Aug. 22, 2004 investment column in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Gail MarksJarvis discusses a recent study conducted by the economist, David Blanchflower, of Dartmouth College. MarksJarvis summarizes his findings by saying, “Overall, men have grown happier in recent years, while women’s sense of well-being has fallen. Blanchflower speculates that women’s declining well-being may be partially because of the pressures faced in the workplace and commuting to work. Before women commonly held jobs, their happiness levels were significantly higher than men’s. But ‘as they have become more equal, women have become less happy,’ Blanchflower states.” Thus, it seems that Buchanan’s experiences and advice are supported by scientific data, and therefore ought to be thoughtfully considered.

Interestingly enough, the current tight labor supply in the U.S. indicates that women are beginning to discover these facts for themselves. MarksJarvis wrote in her April 23, 2006 column that: “Women’s participation in the work force also has flattened … While women poured into the labor market for three decades, starting in the mid-‘60s, the study (released in March 2006 by the Federal Reserve and the Brookings Institution) says participation peaked in the 1990s.” While some speculate that this withdrawal of women from the workforce could be due to “poor job prospects,” MarkJarvis noted that others feel the shift “could be family-related.”

Buchanan says that, “You will be mad, you will be miserable if you try to do both (have a career and be a mother).” This makes sense; mothers will be less productive at work than women without children. Worrying about or staying home to take care of a sick child, for example, sets the working mother back as the other woman is able to advance up the corporate ladder. This is why Buchanan says that women can have a nine-to-five or part-time job while raising a family, but they can’t have a career.

As women, we need to give ourselves a break. We need to pick our fights and be champions of male and female equality, not female superiority. We are equal, but we are not superhuman; only when the Women’s Movement recognizes this will allow the standard for female perfection to attain realistic dimensions.