Posted on 03/09/2009 3:03:53 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
THE washing machine had a greater liberating role for women than the pill, the official Vatican daily said in an International Women's Day commentary.
"The washing machine and the emancipation of women: put in the powder, close the lid and relax," said the headline on the article in Osservatore Romano.
"In the 20th cenutry, what contributed most to the emancipation of western women?" questioned the article.
"The debate is still open. Some say it was the pill, others the liberalisation of abortion, or being able to work outside the home. Others go even further: the washing machine," it added.
The long eulogy to the washing machine - for which the first rudimentary models appeared in the 18th century - highlighted "the sublime mystique to being able to 'change the sheets on the beds twice a week instead of once'," quoting the words of late American feminist Betty Friedan.
While the machines were at first unreliable, technology has developed so quickly that now there is "the image of the super woman, smiling, made up and radiant among the appliances of her house", wrote Osservatore.
While the Vatican was issuing its opinion on washing machines, women rallied worldwide to demand equal rights and protest against domestic violence and growing poverty in the global economic crisis as they marked International Women's Day.
Thousands gathered in public squares from Bangalore to Kinshasa to the capitals of Europe, drawing attention to discrimination and fears facing women in their respective countries.
For Europeans, deteriorating financial security in the face of recession has made life more precarious for women workers. "Masculine globalisation equals female poverty" read a banner at a march in Madrid, while in Warsaw calls for equality were linked to paychecks: "Equal rights, equal pay."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Well,
Aren’t there women who like to sit on their washers and dryers?
They’re probably right. Women used to spend hours doing things that now can be done in a few minutes, thanks to machines. Of course, once the cap and trade stuff comes along and electricity becomes a thing of the past, I guess it’s back to the washboard...
There’s a reason the Pope isn’t married.....
THE washing machine had a greater liberating role for women than the pill, the official Vatican daily said in an International Women's Day commentary.
Wouldn't doubt it.
It's the little things that count most. Soap, and clean water, probably extended human lifespan more than any medicine.
Was the Maytag Neptune exempt for being named after a pagan god?
The Vatican did not praise washing machines, it diminished the liberating aspects of “the pill” with the comparison. It also stated that having more quality time to spend with your family is more liberating than sex without consequence.
>>Well,
Aren’t there women who like to sit on their washers and dryers?<<
Well,
That was crass.
Some will never get it.
I have a wonderful Goddaughter that attends Columbia in Chicago. She came to my house this weekend. During a quiet moment, she lamented how many of her friends were used by guys and left to live with it.
She is a 20 year old and very wise.
Eggggsactly.
A lot of people, even supposedly sympathetic-to-the-pope Catholics will jump on him and say, “see, these guys in the Vatican don’t understand the P.R. wars. Sure, his point was that the pill enslaved rather than liberated, but they should have found a better way to get the point across.”
Well, I don’t know what exactly he said in the address from which this slogan was torn, but even apart from that, Jesus was not particularly known for his P.R. skills. Even his closest disciples were exasperated with him and asked him why some of the things he said were such “hard sayings” and all he said to them was, “those who have ears to hear, let them hear.”
Your Goddaughter has ears to hear. So do most women, if they’ll be honest with themselves. Maybe the very “outrageousness” of the statement (pulled out of context) will jar at least a few women out of their complacency so tha they realize that they are the real losers in the sexual revolution made possible by the pill.
Ya know, men are more than capable of washing their own skid marked boxers.
That’s racist!
No, the great liberating thing for me was to go into typical male dominated roles such as when in HS band (part of home schooling agenda) I played trumpet, then into aviation .... then freeing myself mentally of what is termed “female roles in society” ..... OK sure, women have been fighting this sort of thing for decades but you still get the “looks” if you venture into male areas .... to me it’s the religious part of society that tries to keep us in what they feel is “female roles” .....
That’s right... go ahead and believe the rabidly anti-Catholic characterizations of the press.
Rush says the Vatican is wrong—everyone knows it’s the vacuum cleaner.
Besides... it’s not THAT outrageous. Women moved into the workplace as home-making chores moved away from a matter of living decently and towards a matter of women feeling like their purpose in life was so their husbands could show off. As modern conveniences made basic homemaking tasks less essential, there became higher and higher expectations of what a home was supposed to look like. Eventually, women said, “Screw working so hard just so I can have carpets so clean you can eat off of... I want to do something fulfilling.”
So really, washing machines and vacuum cleaners and dishwashers and pressure cookers (the microwaves of the 1930s) and refrigerators really did spur the “women’s liberation” movement... as well as public schools, mass communication, the modern office building etc.
womens shoes seemed to have helped liberate them a bit further, at least
:)
So... did the gas-powered lawn mower do more to liberate men than Viagra?
According to Reuters,this comes from an article in l’Osservatore Romano written by a woman not the Pope or some official of the Church.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.