16, November 2009 Review: History of Women in America Wal-Mart Case (Dukes) Hirshman : Choice Feminism: women decide whether to enter the workplace or stay at home and take care of the kids either option is OK, as long as they choose. Mom at home 16 Dad at home 1 Both parents worked 46 Says Hirshman: the unreconstructed family was destined to re-emerge after the passage of feminisms storm of social changethe belief that women are responsible for child-rearing and homemaking was largely untouched by decades of workplace feminism. Do women reject feminism, or didnt it go far enough? As Hirshman claims: [feminism] changed the workplace but it didnt change men, and, more importantly, it didnt fundamentally change how women related to men. In the Times stories, not one groom was a stay-at-home dad and none took even a brief paternity leave when the children were born.
BROOKS: Hirshman makes three mistakes: 1. More human flourishing happens at home than at the office 2. The domestic sphere is not powerless it is where children get the head best start in life 3. Men and women are wired differently (things v. people) He concludes that power is in the kitchen. THE FEMININE MISTAKE: Economic argument against women staying at home to raise the children. 1. Womens standard of living drops 36% when their marriages are disrupted whereas mens standard of living rises by 28% 2. The equality revolution puts no value on womens carework. If divorce occurs, the woman has produced children, which are a joint asset but the man has produced his career, with all the perks he got from her contributions. -111 3. Women could be paid an average of $22 an hour for 91.6 hours of domestic work a week ($134,000 a year)-111 4. Social Security is the only source of income for more than 25% of all women aged 65 and older and accounts for 74% of the income of the women in that age group118
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2009/inde x.html
Obama Parents meeting/Wedding Father leaves when he is 2 (p. 27) http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/vanneman/socy441/trends /femhh.html