Food for thought on Feminism and Gender Equality?

[Kay Faulkner]

There is such a pressure in today's society to work. For everyone to work. And yet, women keep complaining that they are not offered the same level of compensation for the jobs that they are able to get, or that they aren't taken seriously when applying for higher paying jobs that men usually hold.

I am a stay at home mom, and a wife of 2 years. I want to spend every moment of my life taking care of my family, making sure that my husband is stress-free, that our home is taken care of, and that my children are brought up knowing that family comes first. I would like to keep my life this way, but I feel the pressure to work, because even with a degree, my husband is not able to make enough money to keep our family afloat. He works 40+ hours a week and yet we are below the poverty level, unable to buy a house, unable to buy a vehicle. We don't own cell phones because our rent is nearly 80% of what he makes in a month.

I sometimes feel like it is because of the women who want gender equality in the workplace, that are causing these hard times. I was looking at the government standards for affordable living expenses and they are all based on households where 2 adults are working full time jobs (40+ hours per week). What happened to the era where a household could be effectively and comfortably run on a single working adult, working a 9-5 job?

I feel like the people who fight for gender equality in the workplace are all these feminist who want to be able to support themselves, by themselves, meaning, without a husband or significant other. These women do not generally have children. It feels like women being selfish to me.

As a mother and wife who wants to be able to take care of my house and family, I feel that feminist and people fighting for gender equality in the workplace and ruining a way of life and increasing financial stress in the home. Kids are being left to stay at home alone for extended periods because both parents are having to work. People are eating fast food more often because there is no one to cook a home-cooked meal. Clutter and messes are a common thing found in houses because people are not there to clean up. People wear dirty laundry because of no time to do the laundry. There is emotional and mental illnesses that are being brought on by people being forced to work extreme hours without a comfortable home to come back to.

Men, wouldn't you love to be able to come home after a day at work, sit back in a comfy chair that is yours alone, be handed a beer (or beverage of your choice) by the person who stayed at your house, cooked, cleaned and took care of all the errands? Be told 30 minutes later that a full on meal was prepared (one that in today's society would seem like a holiday special meal).

Of course telling women they cannot work anymore is not going to solve everything immediately or by itself. Women outnumber men in the workforce these days. And there are more men unemployed than women.

If women didn't work, the cost of living would decrease because the national average for income levels would decrease. According to the government, comfortable housing is supposed to cost 30% of your gross income. As is, rent and mortgages generally cost around 60-70% of the combined gross income of 2 working adults in a household.

NOW, I wanted to add one more thing, I am not saying that all women should just give up working, what I am really saying that is that, if the cost of living and prices of items were based on households where only a single person worked full time (or 2 people worked part-time), I believe the lifestyles in America would be better. There would be less stressed out people, less "depression", less children that feel neglected. People would be able to pay off student loans and get out of debt in a reasonable manner, making going to college a realistic life plan again. Local business owners would be able to invest more money into their businesses and other local businesses and take the market back from the large retail and manufacturers.

Where has the American Dream gone?

A Monday-Friday 9a.m.-5p.m. job, Sundays for church. Friday night board game nights at the dinner table. A matine movie day on Saturday mornings. Dinner parties for holidays where the women gossip and the men watch foodball in a "mancave". Children who enjoy playing outside and coming in to handmade lunch and dinner, not microwaveable "hotpockets". A house with a yard and a fence, not a cramped apartment with no view.
And a dog that everyone adores.

[Mattias]

I don't think you can blame feminism for this lol. Things never last forever, the west has had its time in the sun, time for a new power to emerge.

[ArmyWife]

I think most men would love to come home to a hot meal, a cold beer, and a smiling, pretty wife. But the fact is most need another income. People are materialistic and they put buying the newest gadgets as a priority over family time. I think this is a personal choice each family should make together. There is no right or wrong answer.

It sounds like you are spending way too much on your rent. You should find a cheaper place to live. And the harsh fact is you either need to get a job or your husband needs to make more money. The economy isn't going to change to accommodate single income families. You need to adapt. Make priorities (it sounds like you have) and live with the decision, taking the good consequences with the bad.

[nicebaseball217]

This is the 'outcome' for MOST people under the dual income economy regime, apart, of course from those privileged ones who get all the goodies and crow endlessly about how successful they are in a biased system.

I've commented on this many times - the increasing divides within our society ranging from the ultra-haves to the never-will-haves - as well as the impending doom of such a society/economy due to its inherent massive imbalances and injustices, coupled with declining easy energy resources.

You are caught in the grip of the Deepest and Unacknowledged Recession - which will soon collapse into the Greatest Depression - as your 'government' knows fully - which is precisely why they are hiding it from you and distracting you with other 'issues'.

It is also why feminists are scrambling for the best deck chairs on the Titanic at the moment.... the hardcore as aware as I am that the ship is going down, but they still imagine they can get a good view as it sinks, and in reality, rather than steering the ship away from the iceberg and helping with departure of crew and passengers - they are pushing the iceberg onto the ship and pumping water into the ship....

You are trapped in what I call 'Social Control by Imposed Neo-Poverty' - meaning that it is an ancient maxim that without money etc, the 'peasants' have no real power - and thus it is in the intersts of any 'government' bent on Uberkontrol to ensure that is own people are poor. This poverty of coruse leads to higher crime etc - and thus provides the Reichstag fire excuse to clamp down on the populace (much as feminists do with 'rape' and 'DV').

Government is intent on Uberkontrol in theWest for the simple reason that petroleum is running out, which will bring MASSIVE chjanges to oru society(ies) - for the worse - and they are currently seeking, in a very undrground way, to establish a regime of Uberkontrol as THEIR chosen way to deal with this - on the assumption that We, The People (those government 'serves' LMAO) are incapable of taking care of ourselves properly.... totally elitist rubbish and counter productive to dmeocracy and order.

Many of our alleged feminists and feminist apologists here are themselves caught in that position - and yet they have no real idea what they are dealing with.

I see no solution apart from a total economic dissolution and/or a revolution of the people.

[Lucixir]

Wow, a very intelligent and thoughtful write-up. I enjoyed reading it. However, I believe there is partial truth in everything you are bringing up, one with many complex reasoning behind.

The idea of "middle class" which is something I think you are focusing around is a thing of the past and many things contribute to the reason why but there are some key things that happened along the way to shape the way it has become. The main culprit that started the decline of the middle class was the removal of the gold standard in 1971 by then president Nixon. Money became a derivatives of debt, no longer backed by gold, hence a future promise of the tax payers to repay debts. The truly Fiat money system our founding fathers tried to avoid. The 4th national bank was started in 1913, known as the Federal Reserve, which is neither Federal or public, it is a private entity comprised of bankers, private bankers.

As our economy took a downfall in the late 70's and early 80's, Reagan was elected and produced "side economics" which was more of a twist to our fiat money system. The middle class took off once again, people could afford to live off single incomes, but as with any Boom, a bust is not too far ahead. Corporatism dominated our economy, with lobbying of unfair and unjust trade practices, unions were falling, they were allowed to exploit 3rd world countries labor pools, force Americans to compete with cheap labor but pay high prices for the cheaper products. They were allowed to bend and twist the tax laws in their favor, avoiding taxes all together, they even started receiving rebates in 1995.

In order for the middle class to continue the quality of life they were used to, they were forced to work longer hours, both adults were forced to work, and it just compiled into what we have now. Once again, people are struggling to survive and get by from all of this and just make ends meet.

Women were lucky and pursued service related higher education jobs, that are not easily targeted to out-sourcing. A college education was also cheaper in those days, making it easier to justify the costs of college for the jobs of the future. The return of investment was very good compared to now. Colleges have now turned into a business rather than an industry responsible for providing quality education and focusing on education. Deans became CEO's, Athletics became advertising revenue, education is a by-product with laws manipulated to enslave people to the debt accumulated in pursuit of the American Dream. They are essentially tied to a mortgage with no property to show for when done, but everything of their future will be taken, including their social security benefits (if there), any type of aid, with no chance to get out of that compacted interest trap. They become under-employed, with hardly any benefits and work to pay their interests on their loans. They exist to produce profits for others.

Women, less confrontational are usually willing to work for less and easier to be taken advantage of for their goodwill and caring attitudes, money isn't quite everything to them and the businesses take advantage of that. Businesses want the best for the least amount of annual salary, or costs. They have succeeded in making people highly competitive for a decent job, they get the creme of the crop for the best price. This is a by-product of the unfair competing with the global labor market. They have flooded the market with skilled and very desperate workers who will do more for less just to provide for their families.

As you can see, there are many issues to factor in with your initial write-up, one that I have been studying and witnessing for the past 3 decades. Nothing is getting better, it is getting worse. I've often thought about how can this get better and I continue to run into a brick wall with no answers. Times have shown in history when people are taken over by their government, exploited by greed of corporations; they have no choice but to revolt. I see not revolt on the horizon but I fear it will be the only way to stop the atrocities that have been continuously committed against the people of our great nation to benefit the small powerful full blinded to greed and nothing is ever enough. Greed.

Thank you for this write-up, I'd love to have the opportunity to sit down and share ideas if I ever ran across you in a cafe, many people simply do not care to talk about such things. If there immediate surroundings are not threatened most do not care to see it how it really is nor care of those caught up in it. Sad fact is, they will be in that dysfunctional circle pretty soon with how things are going.

[SmartAZ]

It is impossible to adequately explain human history without supposing the existence of a devil.

[Rawr]

Lol. I'm supposed to give up my job, my education, and all my rights so that YOU can be your husband's personal servant? Um, no. If you can't afford your life choices, thats your problem, not mine.