The Orbis

Issue date: 2/20/07 Section: Music and Book Reviews

Media Credit: Aimee Casey

Recent years have shown a drastic increase nationwide in higher education for women, and women like the ones at Vanderbilt have numerous opportunities to prepare themselves for advanced degrees and successful careers.

However, the presence of Facebook groups such as "Why Can't I Just Major in How to Be a Housewife" and "Future MILFs of Vanderbilt," though they may have been created and joined in jest, point to an unsettling truth about the post-graduation intentions of many Vanderbilt women.

In her clear and concisely written book "Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World," Linda R. Hirshman argues that it is in the best interest of individual women and society as a whole for women to participate in the workforce. Hirshman, who will speak about her book at Vanderbilt on Thursday, March 15, asserts that women can best contribute to society and reach their own potential by holding jobs outside the home and making a more rigorous effort to involve their husbands in the household duties that might hold them back from success in the workplace.

"I have a Strategic Plan to Get to Work," Hirshman writes. "It is a plan to break through the glass ceiling at home, to liberate women to seek flourishing lives and to distribute responsibility for the family fairly between the two adults who created it."

Her message, though determinedly radical even when compared to the views of most mainstream feminists, is one that desperately needs to be heard at Vanderbilt, as Hirshman encourages young college women to take advantage of the opportunities they have to further their educations and qualify themselves for positions of power and influence in the workforce.

She tears at the cultural concepts of masculine and feminine gender roles, pointing out society's arbitrary placement of the female experience in the domestic sphere while the male experience is enriched by the rewards and financial gain that result from holding jobs in the public sphere. She explains, "Women-whether they stay home or, like most women, just carry the responsibility for home to work and back-are homeward bound. Their men won't carry enough of the household to enable them to succeed fully in the public world. Glass ceiling? The thickest glass ceiling is at home."

Hirshman points out that liberals and conservatives alike are guilty of perpetuating the misconception that a woman's place is in the home. She makes the candid and seemingly commonsense point that if housework is really so worthy and the nurturing of children so admirable and idealized, why don't men step up to take an equal share in such activities? Pointing out that women do 70 percent of a family's housework, Hirshman underscores that though society may regard work in the domestic sphere as valuable and necessary, it is still not valuable enough to warrant participation from male members of society.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools