I have a lot of verbal pet peeves, ‘blacks and women,’ ‘you’re so articulate,’ and ‘the US/world/country has changed so much since women have gone to work.
The last one is the latest to annoy me. I was either listening to the radio, reading a newspaper on-line, or watching the ‘news’ when that oft used phrase came up in the context of the demise of the world/US/culture: ” . . . since women have gone to work outside of the home.”
Who are these people kidding? Except for a very privileged few in the history of the world, women have been working since the dawn of man. And not just in the world’s oldest profession, either.
I think there is this perception that children are in danger since white suburban children’s mother’s have entered the workforce in droves. Oddly, women of color, in this country, have been working outside the home for centuries, and it has not caused the alarm that this latest trend has caused.
My great-grandmother, was a sharecropper. My grandmother washed dishes. My mother was a social worker. All jobs that required leaving their children unattended for several hours of the day while they worked to put food on their families tables.
Several other women in my family worked as domestics and nannies, caring for these children, while their own were cared for by others. Going back to work? They’ve always been working. No one worried about their children. Now suddenly some white kids are home alone and we must sound the alarms?
Women have borne the brunt of domestic work for years. They’ll do whatever it takes to keep their children fed. If working outside of the home it what it takes to feed your kids, then so be it. The US/World/Culture will survive.
