Posted on 02/25/2006 8:34:28 PM PST by Clive
The president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers, announced this week that he will resign from his position at the end of this academic year. This became almost inevitable after he made a speech last winter claiming "innate differences" between the sexes may well explain why more men succeed in math and sciences than do women.
Not the most radical statement in history, perhaps, but bold enough to make him a hated figure on campuses and a punching bag for radical feminists.
I don't really know if there is a different aptitude for science between men and women and don't particularly care. I do know, however, that a woman's place is in the home.
There, it's been said. The unthinkable has been uttered. I can only wonder what the various highly intelligent women who edit my column are saying as they read this, but that's hardly the point. A woman's place is in the home.
No, not every woman and not every home. But one major reason society has lost much of its stability, grace and decorum is because so many women with children have been urged to flee the "incarceration" of the family for the "freedom" of the office.
Obviously there are many women who are not mothers to whom this does not apply and also many mothers who are obliged to find employment so as keep the family together. The objection here is to the knee-jerk assumption that somehow it is natural and admirable for women to be in the paid workforce.
There is no compelling case that the world would be a better place if more women were lawyers, bankers, soldiers or engineers. There are many such arguments, however, that the world would be a far better place if more women were mothers. Which means more than the mere act of procreation. It means devotion, sacrifice and time. Not quality time, just time. Lots of it. It means refusing to accept that self-esteem can only come through a boss, water cooler gossip and a generous pension scheme.
Yes, of course, fathers are a vital part of any family and most of the gun violence in our cities has far more to do with absence of dads than the presence of guns. But a mother is unique and irreplaceable.
Nobody is forcing women to become moms, but if they do they should take their new job seriously and not pretend it is some hobby or part-time occupation. Instead, we have created a situation where many women are embarrassed to admit that they are at home with their kids.
Recently, a Tory MP told me, in a spasm of political correctness, that Canada needed more women in Parliament. I asked him why, and he reacted as if he'd never been asked the question before. Which, of course, he probably hadn't.
I continued: "Could it be argued that raising a child to be a respectful, intelligent, moral and good person is just slightly more important than sitting in a building in Ottawa and obeying the orders of some second-rate prime ministerial assistant?"
He called me an idiot. Which may be true, but it does not obscure the point: We've declared war on motherhood in the name of a better, healthier society and declared war on family in the name of women's liberty.
So the president of Harvard feels he has to resign because he dared to raise an interesting question. We can only wonder what his mom would have said. Chances are that it would have been something wonderful. Mothers are like that.
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Huge ole Mommy BTTT!!!!
I'm not a Stay-at-home mom, which sounds like I'm tied with duct tape and set in a closet. I'm a full-time mom and glad to be one.
It doesn't have to be argued, its true!
I continued: "Could it be argued that raising a child to be a respectful, intelligent, moral and good person is just slightly more important than sitting in a building in Ottawa and obeying the orders of some second-rate prime ministerial assistant?"
He called me an idiot. Which may be true, but it does not obscure the point: We've declared war on motherhood in the name of a better, healthier society and declared war on family in the name of women's liberty."
Thank you for that title! I agree, we are certainly not locked inside! I will now be a Proud Full Time Mom!
But can't I just sit on the bench for a little while? Yes, if you want to touch my bippy... 
I dont know ONE Democrat woman who does not agree. Of course they say that "in todays economy, a woman just about HAS to work".. but they would prefer not too..
bttt
I always felt the liberals want women working solely for the tax dollars. If most women really calculated the cost of working, clothes, gas, more eating out or preprepared food, day care, taxes, etc, they would find out they really aren't making that much at all.
Yes. I've often thought that someone could make a killing by selling inflatable children to prop up in the back of a minivan. Much less trouble. Don't tie you down. Cheaper to feed and clothe.
"Could it be argued that raising a child to be a respectful, intelligent, moral and good person is just slightly more important than sitting in a building in Ottawa and obeying the orders of some second-rate prime ministerial assistant?"
AWESOME quote!
ping
The term "stay at home mom" is in itself an insult. As if women who are wives and mothers did nothing but stay home. The more descriptive and accurate term, the one that American women who are wives and mothers have been known by for centuries is, "Homemaker", a maker of home.
Home is where the heart is, it used to be said. Home is where the lives of Americans used to revolve around. That is where children were nurtured, raised, educated, where the elderly spent their last days, where the sick were made well. It was a refuge for all who needed one. And it is for that home that men have fought and died.
While men can build and defend nations, they can't give them the heart that brings meaning to a man's life, as the Homemaker can. It is my belief that it is the return of the Homemaker that will ultimately save our country.
Lets not concede to the feminists a single word. The least of which should be the word Homemaker.
The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.
I mean, after all, isn't that what being a woman is all about? Having the *choice* to do what she wants with her life and her body?
Well, I did and if they don't like it because they disagree with it they can just.... Um I don't want to get banned...so just fill in the blank.
Hmmm, I'm a SAHM (stay at home mom) and I've never found any shame in calling myself that--I also had a career as a teacher for 18 or so years before I became a mother myself, so I've seen both worlds. My preference is doing exactly what I'm doing now--the payment I get now in love and affection is much better than the pittances I always got as a full time teacher. :-)
Which movie?
I never heard about that; all I ever knew was the saying. What movie was it?
Thank you, Larry Summers, for your courage. We need more men like him who will stand up to the feminists and support that which kept America stable and sane.
Yep. I worked full-time, too, while my husband watched the kids. It was a good experiment. I learned how tired my husband could be when he came home, and he learned how to do much of the stuff I did around the house. I'm glad to be back with the kids.
I'm a nurse. I like it both ways. Call be bi-occupational but this stay at home stuff is too extreme for me. I' anti-abortion and pro-women's rights. I guess I'm a political anomaly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hand_That_Rocks_the_Cradle_(movie)
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
"thriller starring Rebecca De Mornay as a vengeful nanny out to destroy a naïve woman and steal her family"
Absolutely horrifying.
I do not believe it is a case of either or. It is a matter of priorities.
Oh! I saw it. Crazy broad.
Thanks, S4T.
She has also home schooled all four of our children, up till this year. We decided for various reasons, that it's best for their education if we send them to a private Catholic school next school year. She has begun looking for job opportunities, and she's a bit nervous about it. We can afford to have her stay home, barely, but she wants to get a job during school hours to help out.
It's very hard to let go, and she's been struggling with guilt for not being able to go further with their education. It's a MONUMENTAL task, with NO "off" time. Most of the women in the "working world" look down on her type as being diminished in some way.
They simply don't get it.
Raising the next generation is THE most important job in the world, period. It's truly a shame and a disaster for our culture that we have lost sight of that.
"labor-force mom"
LOL. That's a good one.
My point was, that Homemakers can work too. It is simply a matter of what they put first and foremost, work or family.
You're right on that one. I ran across that attitude among many of the women I worked with while I was still single. (I quit work the week before I got married and don't regret it one bit) They could have stayed home if they had wanted to, but were more interested in the money and things that they could buy with it and weren't willing to give up their jobs. The ones I knew COULD have stayed home. They weren't working out of necessity.
Anyone wanting to read a really, really good book on this should get "Women who make the world worse" by Kate O'Beirne. It will give you all the ammo you need to take on any femi-nazi.
Helen Gurely Brown, the feminist that started Cosmo mag, made a speech at some east coast women's college about a decade ago, that caused a major uproar.
She basically said "if you want a full time career and a full time dependents, buy dogs". The femi-nazis were not pleased. Too funny.
Your mothers and grandmothers helped to make this country great. We held down the fort during the wars and we can have a family and a job as well as we did then. Get into the current century.
Blows the feminist out of the water.
It was given to me by a major Republican activist with 13 kids. I was a working mom at the time and it really help me to see I was being oppressed by modern feminism. LOL!
Feminist just ain't what they used to be.
Thanks for the link. I had no idea that there was a movie by that name. My mom used to tell me that saying years before that movie came out. Just where do these movie writers get their ideas from anyway?
Every freedom, right, privilege and liberty you enjoy, was afforded you, by the blood, sweat and tears of men. Not feminists. The only right feminists have given women is the right to kill their unborn child.
Like I said ...I'm anti-abortion and my grandfather was at Normandy. But he was man enough to recognize the women's contributions to society which you seem unable to do ...so to heck with you and your prejudice. Life will go on and women like me will go on liking men dispute your obvious hate toward women. You are the fringe.
You are certainly the one on the fringe in this thread, which celebrates the traditional roles of American women, which you obviously despise with your contemptuous statement likening them to the Taliban. I don't think your grandfather would have approved.
I don't see you as a political anomaly, extreme in many of your responses to people though.
My husband about spewed coffee across the room this morning when our 7yo asked "Mommy, when are you going to get a job?" When I explained I already have a job, she queried "But a real job, like daddy has?"
It was an interesting discussion to say the least, considering she was in the midst of filling peat pots with seed starting mixture and I was sorting through seeds to get started, as we are going to become farmers this year.
I am very proud of being a full-time stay-at-home-mom, homemaker, houswife, whatever you want to call it. I did my time in the "heels and hose" world, I don't want it anymore. Activism, lobbying if you choose, is now more of a hobby for me, it was how I earned a living for close to 20 years.
As much as I loved it, I prefer my new career........MOM.
Moms should stay home >>
that's what is probably best for her children.
You think it is "fringe" to want to raise one's own children, rather than having strangers instilling THEIR values into them?
I think that I serve the "greater good" by raising my children, spending time with them, and supervising them so they will be good people. I suppose you think I am a "woman hater", too?
But what you fail to understand many women, not all of coarse, today work for the extra bucks at the expense of their kids and not because it's an absolute necessity. Just look at the standard of living now compare to 40 years ago. Some women have chosen to obtain bigger houses, extra phones, cable TV, and tons of nice stuff on the backs of their kids. And who is the biggest beneficiary of working women today? The liberal ideologues and their politicos. Certainly not most women or their families.
Is society today benefiting today because women kennel out their kids ? Are we happier in general? Hardly.
I just think that bringing back motherhood as an admirable profession and a stronger sense that the family is of value would do our country good. (and really p.o. the left)
This "current century's" idea of motherhood and family is too Marxist for me thank you.
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