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Thursday, May 9, 2013

Sifting through the Ashes to find my bra

I spent some time over the holidays with my Women's Rights are everything cousin. Listening to her admonish me for giving my son a white marshmellow and his girl cousin a pink one, I thought how much hard work it is to have such strong beliefs. I recently have increased my work hours as the kids become a little older, lying in bed exhausted in evenings have made me wonder about these so called equal rights.
Did these hairy legged bra burning women think about what they were doing to the next generation; could there have been a man behind it all, railing these women up while he sat back and laughed? Here we are 20 years on from her marching at rallies, are we better off?
I find myself not only feeling the instinctual guilt over not being the best mother, but now I have added to that the guilt of not fulfilling my potential in society and not contributing financially equally to my partner (and realised just called him partner vs. husband). So if I choose career and motherhood that means working a full day and week, leaving my kids for majority of the time with a caregiver, that is good at her job but would rather be spending all day with her own kids as opposed to mine, or I have option of a creche with all the other working mom's kids. This is being done too early for the mother instinct to have evolved out of me, so all the time at work I am feeling guilt over not being there for my kids, no time to prepare show n tell, or have play dates ... This is why I chose not!
Many women are also then coming home in the evenings to a stressed Dad that is frustrated and depressed that he is not fulfilling his potential or financial obligations as there are now 50% less jobs and opportunities for men in the workforce.
Could it be time to compromise? Could it even out? Can it be equal without having to do same jobs? We probably needed to have burnt the bra's so that we could move forward then soon settle back. Until then I will stay home with boys in the day; work more and more in the free hours; and just read all the fantasy porn about being submissive to my husband...

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