Feminism in the modern world

Ok. This post will likely upset some people. But it needs to be said. I read an article today in a noteworthy newspaper that discussed how a major medical school was not admitting as many women to the school as many other schools in the nation. It was discovered, after an in-depth investigation, that the reason was not that the school discriminates against women, but rather that a lower percentage of women apply to this school than most other schools. So it was actually the women who opted out of med school and pursuing the MD career path. This notion led to a discussion both within the article and within the comments readers have posted below the article about the role of women in the workplace and the home.

There were obvious feminist undertones. The general consensus was that women need to work to change these statistics and pursue med school and other advanced and time-demanding career paths. It was definitely an "I am woman here me roar" argument of women taking control and being ambitious in their educations and careers so as to thwart male dominance.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I believe women should get as much education as possible. My mom and my two sisters all have at the minimum a bachelor's degree. I'm also understanding of the many situations that require women to work (putting one's husband through school, death, divorce, injury/disease, and maintaining some sanity). But the reality of the matter is that just because something is old or traditional doesn't mean that it is wrong and not progressive (well maybe it's not progressive in the direct denotation - but maybe it doesn't need to be progressive because we got it right to begin with. After all, it's not like we're going to stop sleeping because it's been around for so long and it's time to move onto something new). There are reasons why women should eventually and ideally stay at home while their husbands (assuming a husband exists) go to work.


1) Kids like having a mom around, for the most part. I hate to break it to you feminists, but kids generally prefer their moms over the illegal-alien housekeeper or Oxycontin-stoned 23-year-old at the local daycare. Tough pill to swallow, I know.
2) If we are to talk about how it is important for women to pursue their passions and self-interests, then we must allow for the possibility that many women cite staying at home and running a household and raising a family as a passion/interest. My wife has spent most of her life working. Only now does she have a chance to quit her full-time job to be a stay-at-home mom. Let me tell you (in her own words), she is ecstatic to do so. Despite the talents and abilities she has an employee/professional, she prefers to do the mom-at-home thing. How peculiar! Her passion is to be at home! While it is possible that some women will prefer to work and pursue professional/vocational interests, that doesn't mean that will be true for most women--and I don't think it means that it what they should be passionate about.
3) If husbands are to be successful in their careers, they need to have a stable home-life that enables them to focus on their jobs while at their jobs. Juggling all of many home-life/child-rearing tasks while trying to dominate in one's professional can be challenging if not impossible, unless you're Danny Tanner from Full House (which only caused Bob Saget to go even more out of his way to swear during his stand up comedy to erase the image he created on that sitcom). When a husband gets home from work, he doesn't want to hear his wife go on and on about the latest merger that didn't go through or the case she's been struggling with down at the office. He wants her to be stoked out of her mind that he's home and that she can be with him. She is, after all, married to him--not to her work. He wants her to have the time and energy to give him the love and support he needs so that when he goes back to work he can be super-charged for the tasks that await him.

Related to this discussion of the women in the workplace/staying at home debate, I have another whopper to throw out: I think it's okay for employers to want to pay women less than their male counterparts, on average. I'm ready to get maced in the face. Feminists have push relentlessly for employers to pay them the same wages as their male counterparts (they are generally lower, FYI). I don't think they have much room to argue here.

Let's explore this issue. On average, most women will quit working after 27, as their families start to take off. On average, most women who work while having families need to take more time off to have babies (which drives up the cost of providing employee health insurance, by the way). Since most women do retain responsibility over running the home even as working professionals, they have more distractions and constraints on their time (and don't give me the argument that women are more effective at their work because juggling lots of duties and responsibilities makes people more proficient at those duties--that doesn't work, sorry). All of these facts scream EXPENSIVE and POOR INVESTMENT CHOICE to a manager. In effect, I think many employers effectively pay their women employees the same or more by virtue of these added costs. To pay men the same as women is a slap in the face to the hard-working, proficient, revenue-generating male employee who works day after day only to see his female colleagues take time off for babies, show up at 10 am after driving the carpool, and being inflexible with respect to working on Saturdays to do soccer games---and make the same as him! Especially since a man will receive little sympathy from the boss if he drives the carpool and engages in other such career-interferences. He'll invariably receive a less favorable evaluation and subsequent raise/promotion. The most important aspect of all of this is that women are simply more likely to leave the company sooner than men. So a company can invest all that money into training and grooming the "professional woman" only for her to suddenly realize she wants to raise a family and will need to leave the company--never mind the fact that she's next in line for the Chief Operating Officer position.

Feminists around the globe, please take your selfish whining elsewhere. Enjoy your lesbian relationships and serve as CEOs over the companies my company will buy out one day and fire you from and leave the child-rearing to the rest of us. We are content with the traditional image of a woman - she's way hotter this way. And we get way more attention this way. And if giving and receiving attention from guys like us doesn't appeal to you, there is a plethora of fags and hermits working on Friday nights at the office with you that you can hit up for a night out anytime.

My final serious upshot on this matter: everyone should be educated and trained and go to school. Certain circumstances require women to work. Go for it. Otherwise, leave it up to the guys.