Women Work
Dear Hilary Rosen, Ann Romney, Political Advisers, Members of the Press and Pundits:
Women have always worked, as have men. For most of human existence there was no boundary between home and work, and there is nothing new or newsworthy about working women and women working.
We roamed. We hunted. We gathered.
WORKING WOMEN. WORKING MEN.
We farmed.
WORKING WOMEN. WORKING MEN.
Then during the industrial era we divided work outside the home from work inside the home.
WORKING WOMEN. WORKING MEN.
In the “NO BIG DEAL” Department
Hilary Rosen, Democratic National Committee strategist and adviser, said Ann Romney, wife of presidential candidate Mitt Romney, had no expertise to speak on economic issues because:
“His wife has actually never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and how do we — why we worry about their future.”
Ms. Rosen’s statement should have been met with a yawn, but instead, some raised a ruckus and dubbed it “The Mommy Wars”.
Level-headed people know Ms. Rosen was not aiming a nuclear device at women who work hard from home base to take care of their families.
In response to Ms. Rosen’s comment, and possibly on the advice of a political wonk who saw an opportunity to divide and conquer the woman vote, Ms. Romney opened a twitter account and responded to the “accusations”. And so, the Mommy Wars began.
In my rarely humble opinion, the fuss is simply U.S. election year politics as usual.
Yawn.
In the MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO Department
I suggest instead of wasting time over this nonsense we, men and women who are paid and those who are not paid, get to work on issues of importance. Reality: working women are both outside the home and inside the home. The world needs more women with clout making critical decisions in all sectors. Why? Until there are more women leaders making important decisions that effect children, women and men everywhere, we continue to operate at significantly less horsepower and less human intelligence than what is available.
And with that, I am off to work — both as a mother and as a paid consultant.
No comments yet.