"The New Domesticity"

I just read this article in the Washington Post (see link below) that sums up the inner struggle I've been having for the past few months. As a stay-at-home mom with a law degree, I've given a lot of thought to the career vs. family debate and am still no closer to a happy medium than I was when I started.

The article raises some interesting points for me, namely because I am one of the people it references--someone who is concerned about the source and quality of the products I consume. This means that I find myself doing things I previously would have scoffed at, like baking a pumpkin pie from scratch. In part, it does give me more control over the quality of the ingredients used, but it also creates some inner turmoil. I often wonder what happened to that budding feminist that I was in college. The girl who wanted to be a power player in international relations or become a U.S. Senator. Where did she go? She's in the kitchen making her own organic baby food.

I've become that type of woman that Betty Friedan wrote about and who I never thought I would be. Part of me feels as though I should be proud of my growing domestic skills, but more of me still believes that, as James Brown once said, "It's a Man's World" and in such a world, value is measured by the size of the salary you draw in. If I'm not contributing financially, then I'm not contributing. I can't tell you how many times people have asked me how my job prospects are looking. And yet, if I were to take on a full-time job, I'm sure peoples' concerns would shift to my family life--how am I able to find the time to work and still care for a household? It's a truly vicious circle that only we women will have to experience.

Maybe the "new" domesticity isn't new at all. Maybe we just fooled ourselves into thinking that we could actually leave it behind.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-domesticity-fun-empowering-or-a-step-back-for-american-women/2011/11/18/gIQAqkg1vN_story_2.html