Blog 9

From what I could find on the internet, the responses to Belkin’s essay are varied, but fall into three main categories—those that agree with her, those that don’t believe her, and those that actively disagree with her.

Many people agree with her, that it’s fine for women to opt out of the workforce (or partly out of the workforce) in order to create more satisfying lives with their families.

But not everyone believes that this is even happening. Columbia Journalism Review argues that women’s participation in the workforce has steadily increased over the years and that this shows that women are even more influential than they have ever been. http://www.cjr.org/essay/the_optout_myth.php

Mother’s Movement Online agrees that the trend exists, but argues that this trend is a negative one, not a positive change for women. They argue that women who become housewives lose their financial security and run the risk of their supporting marriage not working and leaving them out on the street. http://www.mothersmovement.org/essays/KAGranju0401.htm

But I don’t see sacrificing some money and power in order to be with your family as a bad thing. My mother gave up a job as a career counselor for a powerful business in order to go back to college and get her teacher’s certification and become a high school teacher. I’ve asked her why before, and she told me she realized that my sister and I were growing up without her and she hated it. She and my father both teach high school and were both very present all throughout my childhood.

I don’t think my mother regrets leaving her higher paying job. I don’t think I’ll even have one. I want to be a writer and, if I ever have children, I’ll want to spend a lot of time with them, even if my career suffers a little because of it.

As far as childcare for my children, I think my parents will move closer to wherever I end up so that they can be closer to my kids. That’s what my grandparents did when my sister and I were born, and they took care of me after school and on days when my parents couldn’t be there. That would be my ideal situation, hopefully with my partner taking time off with me.