Women, Feminism, and Choice
Column by Karolina Lula -
May 19, 2006
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Feminism was supposed to give women more choice in the direction their lives can take. These days, however, it looks like 'choice' means making only the decision some feminists say is OK.
Feminism in 1970s America began as a valid movement. Its purpose? Give women more freedom and, consequently, more choice.
Sadly, the word “choice” was hijacked by the modern feminist to translate into unrestricted abortion rights. But what the word originally meant was the right to do as one pleases, as long as it does not conflict with the rights of others.
Even if what one wishes to do is to be a full-time mother.
The full-time mother is not compensated monetarily for her labor. She does not earn hourly wages. Why then, would a woman become a mother? It is not through coercion, but rather through her own good will, intrinsic motivation, and yes, through her choice.
What is startling is that despite being valuable to society, the full-time mother is often mocked and disparaged. Perhaps most surprisingly, this criticism often comes from an unlikely source: the modern feminist.
The modern feminist is the most didactic and vociferous in her criticism of the mother when she proclaims that a woman is only as good as the money she earns. The modern feminist preaches like a broken record with her statistics — however fraudulent — that women earn $0.76 for every $1.00 a man makes.
The modern feminist does not take into account that she is comparing apples and oranges. The statistic does not account for the fact that women more frequently pursue less physically demanding and less dangerous occupations, which in turn often pay less. They also on average choose to work less hours and take more time off work.
When these differences are accounted for, women earn $0.99 cents to every male $1.00.
The modern feminist forgets that women take more time off from work to have such valuable experiences as — for example — having children. If a woman leaves the workforce to have a child and comes back five years later, she has lost five years of experience in her field. She will not be as valuable to the industry and she will not get the same pay as a male counterpart of the same age and with the same educational background.
It is the modern feminist, not the classic feminist, who is the enemy of the mother. The classic feminist believed that women should be treated justly and given opportunities, not outcomes.
Kate O'Beirne, the author of Women Who Make the World Worse, explained it this way:
We learned that freedom comes with difficult choices. Millions of women have learned they can have it all — careers and families, but not at the same time unless we are willing to feel torn and conflicted…These trade-offs that families make to balance their lives go a long way to explain the phony wage gap that feminists politicize as evidence of persistent sex discrimination.
Feminism began as a movement empowering women to live their lives freely without ridicule or disdain. The modern feminist should remember this before criticizing the women of today — whatever their career choices.
Karolina Lula is a senior economics and political science double-major at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She is a columnist for the Rutgers Observer
and maintains a blog on economics, politics, and, culture. She was born in Szczecin, Poland.
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