Last night, my high school pal Joyce emailed me an article from The Daily Princetonian, and it totally wrecked my evening. So much so that I got out my corkscrew, opened a much too expensive bottle of Barolo, and downed a couple of glasses. I was so upset that I even missed Jon Stewart on TV.
"What Princeton Women Want" recounts a conversation between the author and her friend Molly about their impending graduation. Wistfully questioning their futures ("Would we go to graduate school? Marry our college boyfriends? Sell our souls to Wall Street?"), the author then describes her friend's answer:
Molly lowered her voice, glanced from side to side, and leaned in closer to me. “Margaret,” she whispered, “there’s something I need to tell you.” Molly continued, “I don’t want to go to grad school. I don’t even know if I want a career. I want to get married, stay at home, and raise my kids.” Then, clearly distraught, she added, “What’s wrong with me?”
The article is largely a defense of Molly’s choice. And—guess what?—feminism is the designated villain:
Molly's predicament is shameful. Not because she feels the urge to be a stay-at-home mom, but because she feels that her desire is wrong or unnatural. It is shameful that modern feminism has elevated professionalism at the expense of motherhood, particularly the stay-at-home variety. It is sad that some students feel the need to justify their education with a prestigious career.
By this point, the sanctimonious tone is getting under my skin. I know the author is defending her friend, but why pick on "modern" feminism? Was it not feminism that opened those ivy-covered gates to them at Princeton? And yes, if you must ask, I do think the Mollys of the world are squandering their privileged education. In fact, they are taking away seats from other brilliant kids who might actually need a Princeton degree to achieve their dreams.
There, I said it. I got the politically incorrect thesis off my chest.
The article then trots out the latest "It" girl for traditional womanhood: Anne-Marie Slaughter, who famously gave up her high-profile State Department job to spend more time with her sons. (Remember Slaughter's article, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” in The Atlantic last summer?) Never mind that Slaughter is a tenured professor at Princeton—and that she really does kind of "have it all." To young women, unfortunately, she's now the wise, nagging voice of how motherhood and high-pressure jobs don't mix, and how traditional motherhood is really morally superior.
"Slaughter legitimized the decision to turn down further career opportunities in favor of spending more time with children," writes the Princetonian author. Okay. Then she adds:
We must accept that many women—even Princeton women—do not want “it all.” As for young women who hope to have a successful career while raising children, they should hear realistic advice about the difficulty—perhaps the impossibility—of having both while minimizing the costs to either.
By this time, I'm asking myself: Is this what some young women today are thinking—that they really can't have a high-flying career and family, and that "good" girls will ultimately chose motherhood? Or is this some kind of Princeton thing? (There must be something in the water there, because the whole "opt-out" thing started with Lisa Belkin's 2003 New York Times article that looked at a bunch of Princeton women who decided to chuck their careers to stay home.)
The author of the piece suggests that Princeton should be more supportive of women who want to take the traditional wife/mother route: "Our university can—and should—do more to validate the desires of students like Molly," adding that "Princeton’s Women’s Center and Career Services are natural places for the dialogue to continue."
Huh? Last time I checked, there was no shortage of jobs for women in the housewife sector. Do institutions of higher learning really need to devote more resources to help women ease into those roles?
Now, before all you traditionalists out there start sending me angry emails, let me say that I'm not antimotherhood (and, believe it or not, I have kids!). What I find sad and depressing is that these bright young women seem to be limiting themselves so early on. Why not be idealistic and think you can have it all, at least at the starting gate? Why not dream big when you are young?
Believe me, real life will catch up with everyone soon enough.
Related posts: Harvard Law Women Opt Out, Really, You Don't Want to Stay Home.
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Photo: Betty White as the Happy Homemaker on Mary Tyler Moore show.
there are a lot of bitter people on this thread who dont really understand what the word "choice" means. Everyone is free to make their own choices. Not everyone wants to be the next CEO. Get over it.
This author needs to revise this very biased article
Posted by: Lumbiwe | March 25, 2019 at 08:21 AM
A husband may leave you or pass away, but jealous colleagues, corporate politics, ill health or plain bad luck can ruin a career. And who will support you not only financially but also emotionally if that happens, if you don't have a family? Your source of income, whether a man (or woman) or a job, can always disappear in a flash. Why only try to shame one end of the dependency spectrum? For those preaching the "all your eggs in one basket" cliche, would you call out a woman who invests her entire life savings in starting a business?
Posted by: Jackie | July 23, 2015 at 03:54 AM
I believe the author has a right to her opinion. And I also acknowledge that she realizes her "politically incorrect thesis" might be offensive to some. However, I also think she is a bit confused about what the role of a housewife is or what it could be as compared to the unfortunate stereotype of housewives being a drag on society, a gold digger, pregnant-and-barefoot, or somehow not contributing their fair share. It as if the author believes that housewives are making an uneducated decision and therefore she leaps to the conclusion that they should not pursue education. And further, she fails to support her thesis with facts. I would like to see her source for her claim that "Last time [she] checked, there was no shortage of jobs for women in the housewife sector." Her view of a housewife seems to reflect distain and contempt for those who do not have the same values as her, leading her to be judgmental and short-sighted. Is she jealous that those women don't have to experience the same challenges she will face as she pursues a career; does she unwittingly want to force us all to have the same experience? I would remind her that she is an individual with her own talents and dreams and she should afford that luxury to everyone. Is she really so naive to think that being a housewife doesn't have its own set of challenges and rewards? It is unclear why she believes she has the right to condemn the life choices of other people.
Ultimately, her asking the question, "Do institutions of higher learning really need to devote more resources to help women ease into those roles?" could be interpreted to mean that this article was authored by someone who is not offering solutions, but is still asking questions. Although her implications are offensive, we can only hope that as she continues her pursuit of higher education that she chooses to develop a sense of tolerance and even respect for the ideas and values of others, especially when they differ from her experience.
Posted by: virginia bluebell | May 21, 2015 at 02:17 PM
I lost my father to heart disease when I was 14. My mother never re-married and worked at a factory making minimum wage to support us. My life experience also shaped how I viewed college and work. I would never spend the obscene amount of money necessary for an Ivy League education with no monetary ROI. My life teaches me about life. I don't have to pay money for that. It never occurred to me that I would ever consider the option to not work. I never wanted to depend on and expect someone else to improve my life circumstances when I had the skills to do it myself. It seems that all men plus the women who come from financially challenged backgrounds don't have the luxury to consider Molly's options. It seems that Molly's problem is an upper middle-class women's "dilemma" - if you can call it that.
Posted by: Anne | January 31, 2015 at 10:02 AM
This is a shameful article. Mostly because it disguises itself as pro-feminist when it's actually the complete opposite.
Just because a woman desires to stay home and raise her children and take care of her husband, DOES NOT mean her getting an education is a waste. #1-because the point of education is not just to get a career, some people hope to be enlightened and understand the world around them better, is that not enough for you? #2 - if a woman desires to be a housewife and doesn't go to college she runs the risk of possibly losing her husband one day, or losing his stable income, and having no feasible options due to her lack of education. My grandmother was a housewife for 15 years and when my grandfather left, he left her with 4 kids and no college degree. If she went to college first at least she would have the security knowing she had something to fall back on.
The initial point of feminism was embracing ALL women's choices and accepting them as equals to men. And clearly that hasn't been achieved since women like you have yet to do that.
Posted by: Alexandria | June 8, 2014 at 01:58 PM
Why do you assume these girls are limiting themselves? How is doing what you actually like a limitation? I'm in college because I realize that I may never have the chance to be a house wife but if I have that chance I will take it and be happy with it. That's just me. Feminism has done so much for women but it does have side effects such as this. I should be able to be a housewife without feeling guilty.
Posted by: regina | May 26, 2014 at 08:39 PM
Hi ladies,
Shall we just accept that everyone is wired a bit differently and leave it at that? Not every woman would want to be a CEO and not every woman wants to devote their life to family. Many of us are in between. It is strange to speak as though we are either in this camp or that.
And why is everyone speaking as if they expect husbands to die or divorce?? It may be common, but speaking as though it is an expected outcome is really sad. I do not marry expecting my husband to die or divorce me.
I am engaged, recently graduated from university and yes, I am considering becoming a SAHM in the future. He is blessed with a stable job that he is crazy about, earns a good salary, which is why it is possible for us to live on one income. Besides, I am not someone after luxurious things in life.
Even if something unexpected were to happen and I have to earn money, I believe There will be a way when the time comes. I don't think it is wise to live life in fear and expecting the worst. Also, we have savings and insurance. If I think that giving my family the best that they deserve would make me happy, that's what I would choose. IF the situation changes and I am not able to do that anymore, I get a job and adapt. Any job. McDonald's, whatever.
When I was young, my parents ran a successful business and did not have anytime to spend with us kids. Sometimes they forget that we exist and didn't pick us up from our grandparents place. I just don't want to do that to my kids in the future because I grew up with this emptiness in my heart, and always yearned for a close knit family and a mum who is actually there for us.
Sometimes I think that our own mother's actions influences our decision the most. For myself, because I did not get the caring mother that I've always wanted, I am more inclined to avoid the "mistake" that she had made.
Posted by: S | May 4, 2014 at 10:53 AM
I work full-time, and it makes me utterly and existentially miserable. I'm not a morning person and I most passionately loathe going to bed at nun o'clock (when I'm not sleepy) so that I can grudgingly rouse myself at chicken A.M. when every fibre of my body is manifesting its desperate need for sleep. I also loathe relying on shoddy public transport. Perhaps most comprehensibly, the fact of having to spend almost all my waking hours doing things I don't give a monkey's toss about, only because we need money, means that I have to suppress all my many interests. Now, some people derive their identity from, essentially, a job. They somehow 'are', in some fundamental way, assistant regional manager for logistical counterassessment (or whatever). There exists the idea that if one remains at home, one gives up on having an identity. But my identity is internal and inherent, and it has a lot to do with interests and activities that, sadly, can't be easily monetised (e.g. Balkan music). What work does is quite the opposite of 'giving me an identity', to wit: 'forcing me to disregard my identity'. I don't have time to compose or play music, design my own clothes and so on, because the imperative to generate income dominates every aspect of my life including when I can and can't sleep and whether I have time for a bowel movement when peristalsis raises the siren song of 'loo loo loo'. If I had the luxury of staying at home, I wouldn't 'just' be a housewife; I could finally be me. I don't think that work necessarily has to be ghastly: my husband's job, for instance, coincides with one of his main interests (biochemistry). I also understand that an income has to be found somehow, and that breadwinners may die and so on. I just simultaneously perceive the sadness of having to sell all one's time for money because of the 'just in case' (what if my husband dies etc), thereby precluding any enjoyment of the 'now'. And it's not just about being lazy and not wanting to get up in the morning: it's that when every aspect of one's life is colonised by duty because one can't afford to pay any attention to one's own desires beyond the avoidance of homelessness, one can't help wishing it weren't so. I think that feminism is about removing limits, not imposing new limits (exchanging 'you must stay at home' with 'you can't stay at home'). Not wanting to work needn't imply rejecting male-female equality; it may be a symptom of something else, such as being cursed with talents which can't be converted (easily) into legal tender, and mourning one's transformation into an obedient yes-robot who must choose not being homeless at the expense of all other forms of pleasure. Incidentally, I don't think education has to be retroactively justified by being applied to some practical end or other. One of its perfectly valid functions is to cultivate the mind, because it's there and it's curious. I happen to have three degrees including a PhD, but I didn't do these as part of a master plan to enter some particular career or other. A world where there is no such thing as learning for its own sake is a sad one indeed. Anyway, the take-home message, if any, is that the situation is, in my opinion, too complex for the implications of one's lifestyle choice to be automatically and clearly derivable from one's attitudes regarding male-female equality, and that it is simultaneously possible to perceive the practical wisdom of working and to mourn the loss of all the other aspects of oneself which have to be permanently suppressed in favour of the quest for income. Solutions may be personalised without thereby implying some archaic misogynistic horror: in my case, my husband says that since he is in fact living his dream of being a scientist while I'm giving up all my dreams to work because his dream doesn't pay enough, it makes sense that when his income is enough to support us both, I should be free to reduce my working hours and have nonzero time for something I actually like.
Posted by: Ants | April 15, 2014 at 05:42 PM
To me, the problem with this article seems to be the assumption that you should give up your seat at college to other people if you don't want to pursue a career. Is education only worth it if you get a high-powered job? What about learning life skills? How to run your house? Invest your money? Tutor your children? Have a successful, part-time, home business? Why is it that we place so little value on what stay at home moms provide for their families that we'd consider them unworthy of education?
I agree that some feminists, not all, have taken the rhetoric too far. No woman should feel guilty for staying at home to care for and invest in her family. An education is not a "waste" on this woman (or man for that matter - there are stay at home dads, too).
Why don't we try being true feminists and support women's choices, no matter what they are? I am ashamed that any woman would feel guilt for making the choice she feels is best for her family.
Posted by: Allie | March 16, 2014 at 02:42 PM
"What I find sad and depressing is that these bright young women seem to be limiting themselves so early on. Why not be idealistic and think you can have it all, at least at the starting gate?"
- I think you're missing the point of the article. This young woman doesn't WANT "it all". She has no desire for a busy career. Her dream, her passion, is to raise a family. And she feels ASHAMED to pursue her dream because of what society tells her. Tragic to see that the feminist movement has gone so far in the other direction so that it is limiting the dreams of some women.
Posted by: Britt | September 16, 2013 at 07:43 PM
Everyone is not going to accept you. I've been fighting what I want for a long time because a lot of people around me think I'm not doing anything. A stay at home mom is far from lazy or stupid. They are gourmet chefs, teachers, maids ,managers and students constantly learning. I had this conversation with my mother. She says she had two kids two jobs no help so I need to be as independent as her. But I'm not so what am I suppose to change who I am. I think not. I never knew my mom because she worked so much. My sister who is 5 years older than me, practically raised me. I remember my mom being too tired to hang with me. Aggravated from kids at her job and not wanting to be bothered with kids as soon as she got home. I'm not saying she was a bad mother. I solute working moms. She did what she had to do but I do not want to be like her. I am able to teach my son so much because I have time to research and put projects together. We do lots of art, we recently just made a solar system. We go to children's museums, zoos, libraries ect. My son loves books he'll have me read to him for hours. Everywhere I go people tell me my son is great "he's so sweet and well mannered" they say!. And he really is. He tells me I'm beautiful holds the door open for me. And why is he so great??? Because I'm making him what I want him to be. So I will no longer feel bad about my occupation. I love my life, I love my 4 year old gentleman and I think God is satisfied with me. If you're a good mother you're a good mother no matter what. Everyone is different follow your heart, accept yourself and love life.
Posted by: Takeia | June 18, 2013 at 07:07 AM
I love this author's response to this topic. It was like reading my own thoughts! If you want to be a housewife, go and do that..free up some seats. Let's not try and embody the "MRS. Degree" label, shall we?
Posted by: Catherine | May 29, 2013 at 09:27 PM
I want to be a housewife, because it makes me happy. The thought of having a happy family is gold and someday i want to turn it into reality.
Posted by: Courtney | May 26, 2013 at 02:50 PM
"Why not be idealistic and think you can have it all, at least at the starting gate? Why not dream big when you are young?"
I used to. Then, I spent over a decade climbing a corporate ladder ringed with people who did not want me climbing it. I was bullied at every level for excelling and making the men look bad, I was sexually harassed, I was abused, I endured attempts at forcing me out, and I consistently worked twice as hard as the men for 20K less pay. The final straw came when I was forced out of a management job for earning too much money and needing my health insurance (the younger women didn't; they didn't even see the doctor).
After a degrading job search lasting almost two years, during which I was brought in for my looks and informed my duties would be limited to the secretarial. I have given up any idealism, dreams, or ambition. I hate and fear work, and want no part of it. I want to be a housewife, and if my husband dumps me when I am old, I know some great drug dealers who can help me administer a lethal opiate dose. Anything is better than going back to the old boys club and being treated like a stupid bimbo piece of meat and a slave.
Posted by: Rose | May 12, 2013 at 08:25 PM
I just found this post, but I respectfully disagree. Really, really, really disagree.
Posted by: Shannon | February 20, 2013 at 08:48 AM
It looks like most of the women here are very upset but I am not sure why. I have always wanted to be a housewife but since marriage is not something you can make happen I spent my time bettering myself through a college degree. My husband actually sent me this article I guess in reminescence of our long conversations about my passion for being a housewife. I do want to have it all, a clean house, success, kids...but my success is less involved in what I do and more about who I am doing it for. I take great pride in serving my husband. I am not without skills and I do make a modest income on the side. But at the end of the day my family comes first, and my husbands career is more important to me than my own.
I feel that marriages fall apart because people ignore each other not because someone stays at home. I find that my marriage has been better since I stopped working. We are able to go on lunch dates and he loves to show me off around the office. Plus when he gets home I am well rested and the house is in order so we can do whatever he wants without him feeling stressed. Yes it has ment we have made some sacrifices to our lifestyle but what we have given up doesn't compare to what we have gained. And I still plan to someday use my college degree to show my children that an education is benefitial no matter ones choice of vocation. I really feel that when I help others to meet there goals I inadvertantly acheive my goals too.
I wish that more women would start supporting each other. It is really hard as a housewife to listen to all my family tell me how I should be working. Your choice is your choice. I think that is what feminism is really about accepting and supporting each other, we are all women. Someday you may be thankful you know that housewife she might become one of your best customers or may watch your kids when you are in a crunch. It doesn't matter what your life choice is go do it and be the best you can at it.
Posted by: Danielle | January 24, 2013 at 04:11 AM
I agree that every mother (or father, for that matter) should have enough education and work experience to be able to support their children if need be. But to say that anyone - man or woman - can have a successful professional career and simultaneously provide their children with same quality of care as a stay-at-home is, frankly, absurd. A lot of women from the Baby Boomer generation realized that too late. I think the new generation (mine) is simply learning from their parents' mistakes.
Posted by: M.C. | January 17, 2013 at 03:40 PM
Yes, and what happens to Molly when hubby decides to trade her in for a newer model? Let's be realisitic here ladies. In 2012, the lifelong probability of a marriage ending in divorce is 40%–50%. Plus, life is unpredictable; your husband may pass away unexpectedly. If you are a house wife with no experience in the corporate world, what will you do to support your children if there is no husband? We owe it to our children to be able to support them no matter what. One book that is amazing on this topic is "Get To Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World" by Linda R. Hirshman. My best friend gave it to me when I got pregnant and it solidified (for me) the decision to go back to work after my son was born.
Posted by: Molly | January 14, 2013 at 06:15 PM
Let's clear away the nonsense and be honest about the author of that article and Molly. What they were doing was the same old thing many college students do right before graduation: experiencing an old-fashioned bout of panicked cold feet about their impending entry into the "real world." Graduation is scary: No more cozy college life and routine. You worry about whether you'll be able to find a job (especially now), whether you'll have to take something lousy just to pay the bills, whether your degree is worth anything, whether you have what it takes to hack it in your chosen career (assuming you've chosen one--if all you chose is a major, it's worse), whether you can repay all those student loans. All college students go through this panic. The difference is that when male students go through it, their fantasies usually involve something like hitting the road, working odd jobs and living like a will-o'-the-wisp as they discover America, Europe, or whatever place they haven't discovered yet. Pretty soon, someone tells them (or they realize themselves) that these fantasies are just escapist nonsense, that it wouldn't be that easy or necessarily that fun to do, and they set about trying to find an entry-level door into the careers they want.
However, when female students have these fantasies, they tend to sound less like "I want to run away and join the circus or the merchant marine or become a hobo" and a lot more like "I just want to find some nice man who'll marry me and let me stay home and raise the kids while HE pays the bills so I don't have to worry about taking care of myself. I mean, gosh, isn't that how it USED to be? Wasn't that what every woman was supposed to dream of? Why shouldn't I? After all, feminism is about CHOICE, isn't it? And if I want to CHOOSE not to have to take care of myself and to let a man do it, isn't that my CHOICE?"
Yeah, sure, it's about choice. Only that poor fella working his ass off to support two adults and who knows how many kids doesn't have much of a choice, does he?
If Molly and her friend know any sensible people--and let's hope they do--one of those people will recognize this and say to them: "Not so fast, Grasshoppers. Yes, it's natural to get scared about having to go out and make a life for yourself, and fantasizing about marrying a man who'll let you be a pampered SAHM is fun, but so are fantasies about inheriting a dead relative's fortune or winning the lottery. Eventually, you have to set them aside and deal with reality. So get cracking." And they'd sigh, shrug, and start visiting some job websites. End of story.
Posted by: Tru | January 14, 2013 at 04:49 PM
These life decisions aren't about a moral high ground, or at least, they shouldn't be. Feminism should be about the existence of opportunities, options, and support for women to become whatever they want to become (whether that is a high-powered professional, an artist, a homemaker, etc.). Yes, there should be more support and value for those who decide to stay at home to run the house and raise children - domestic work has a deep history of being under-valued as "not real work." But that support needs to extend towards normalizing the decision for men to do the same. When the expectation, pressure, support, and recognition for men and women to stay at home is equal - that would be a major step forward. And this shift/focus is not exclusive of gains made in the workplace - progress can and should occur in all areas of society. A shifting view of gendered roles at home can have strong effects on how workplaces accommodate obligations at home, to the benefit of both men and women.
Posted by: Hannah | January 14, 2013 at 04:48 PM
"And yes, if you must ask, I do think the Mollys of the world are squandering their privileged education. In fact, they are taking away seats from other brilliant kids who might actually need a Princeton degree to achieve their dreams."
Does a teacher need an education? If so, why doesn't a mother, who also teaches life to her kids?
You don't need education and brains to raise the next generation?
You don't need an education to raise your kids to be savvy and well-adapted?
Posted by: BM | January 13, 2013 at 05:50 AM
Prof. Slaughter should teach a course at Princeton called "Life Before Feminism" where the students watch back to back episodes of Mad Men. And the chiding that feminism is about giving women the "choice" to stay home and be housewives is absurd. Fire away!
Posted by: Eve | January 11, 2013 at 07:22 PM
The point of the feminist movement was to allow each woman the chance to decide for herself what the definition of "all" is without being judged - by anyone.
The fact is that, thanks to the feminists, women do have choices and they have the freedom to make them for themselves. Why do we allow ourselves to fall into the anti-feminist trap of criticizing women for doing just that, or by pressuring women to value one choice over another?
Molly is a brilliant kid in her own right who earned admission to and graduation from Princeton through her talent, dedication, and hard work. She didn't take anyone's seat but the one she earned for herself for the purpose of fulfilling her own educational goals.
It's Molly's right to evaluate all of her options and make the choices that are best for her at that point in her life. She even has the right to make what she might later decide to be a wrong choice - and learn from it.
I, for one, wish her nothing but happiness.
Posted by: Lis | January 11, 2013 at 04:00 PM
Who has EVER had it all. Men never did, many (but not all) didn't care as much about being at home with the kids and how not being home was going to affect kids. Partially because there really wasn't any social stigma or pressure about it until recently. Even still, the pressure on men to spend time with their kids isn't near what it is for women. If men get to spend time with their kids it's special or a luxury. This even though as one commenter noted, it really has become a necessity to have a two person income for a family. I have kids and I LOVE to be with them, but I also love my job and having an identity that's separate from my kids. Men can do that and be a good dad, why is it that somehow I'm not a good mom if I don't feel like I need to be with my kids 24/7.
While I think everyone can and should make their own choices about whether to stay home or work, I also caution women against the idea that you can do that without risk. I have worked with more than one woman who never thought she would do anything but raise her kids. Then a husband asks for a divorce or dies, and the woman has to figure out how to take care of herself and her children. That is not a situation that any woman or person should find themselves in.
Ultimately, I wish we could stop speaking about working women having it "all" or not having it "all." Since it's not clear to me that there is one definition of what "all" even is. Anyone can have a career and a family, but sometimes one might require more attention than the other and its very helpful to have a partner who can really be a partner and take a share of the responsibility at home. It's not necessarily easy or perfect, but what in life is!! To me what's most important is that women are encouraged and supported in being responsible for themselves and their families and developing as a person (in motherhood and in a career) without being stigmatized. But I guess I shouldn't hold my breath...
Posted by: Andie | January 11, 2013 at 03:01 PM
I'm really fed up with this 'choice feminism' B.S. myself. Just because you are in possession of a vagina does not make your choices feminist. In fact, many women do their fair share to distmantle any gains made by previous and current activists and reinforce stereotypes that makes it harder for the rest of us to succeed. Lastly, I can respect or leave be the decision of someone like Molly, but I certainly can judge whether or not this sort of decision is good for the world and economy as a whole (from my individual perspective, of course). I don't know why people - especially women - are so nervous to judge. Just like eating meat makes you a bad vegetarian (or not a vegetarian, period), throwing away an education and being financially dependent on a man makes you a feminist (or not a feminist at all). That's my perspective and although each individual needs to do what is best for them, let's call it like it is.
Maybe it is selfish, but we need the best and the brightest out there in every field. If you don't believe that, you should stop seeing female doctors, relying on women in government to stand up for policies relating to your health, etc. When will women learn that if we aren't at the table, we're on the menu?
Molly's choice reflects a bigger failure here, one that won't be fixed by sitting at home unengaged in the world. It's a disappointment that someone with so much opportunity would waste it.
Posted by: MilesJD | January 11, 2013 at 01:18 PM