Linda Hirshman Loves to Throw Them Firebombs
Posted on 15. Mar, 2007 by Brian in General
I have absolutely no idea where to start with her American Prospect piece that asserts that a) men always have and always will put family second and b) … actually, I don’t know what b) is. I assume that Hirshman is sticking by her advice that women should enter the workforce and stay there, but her suggestion to the women of America ain’t exactly clear in her essay:
So here’s a novel idea: Instead of passing around last year’s Working Mother magazine and looking for help from the boys who tell Gerson they’d love to have a just family if it didn’t cost them anything, why don’t women use their power at the ballot box? If women used their voting power to legislate the redistributive agenda they need, including, for example, required paternal leave, Goldman Sachs would look like a Swedish cooperative nursery. Martin is correct that the mommy groups must be addressing the men in their strategy. But they should be making concrete demands, not settling for wishful thinking. In the words of the famous feminist economist Larry Summers, no one has ever washed a rented car. Until women refuse to participate in the unjust world the men embrace, there will be no forward progress.
“Required parental leave”? “Swedish cooperative nursery”? Huh? And can anyone translate the last sentence?
I’ve let the Prospect know that if they’d like to know what young men are really thinking about work and family nowadays, I might be able to offer a slightly different perspective than a 62-year-old lawyer/philosopher.
G.
15. Mar, 2007
She may be a philosopher but I think it’s a trifle disingenuous to hide behind this job description when she’s being a polemicist.
(Also: Why “mommyblogger” when “blogger” would have done just as well? Unless it was to condescend?)
Sandy
16. Mar, 2007
I think Hirshman is the perfect example of a woman who has been brainwashed by the patriarchy (that’s how I translate “the unjust world that the men embrace” anyway). And I shudder to think was kind of world Hirshman’s style of “forward progress” would entail.
Sandy
16. Mar, 2007
oops, above should say “what kind of world”
RebelMom
17. Mar, 2007
Regarding RebelDad’s question about Hirshman’s last sentence…a call for women to refuse to participate in the unjust world that men embrace….
What Hirshman is saying is that women must refuse to participate in the patriarchal structure of the traditional heterosexual marriage/family that typically places women out of the paid labor market in whole or in part once kids enter the picture.
It is her belief that the only way women will progress is (1) to work outside the home (2) to refuse to leave the labor force for the purposes of being an at-home spouse or parent and (3) to use their presence in the paid labor force–and their political power to force change regarding childrearing policies (like FMLA). If women do these things, she asserts, women will be equal at home and outside of it.
She has much less faith in the typical man and typical marriage than, say, RebelDad. She thinks men must be forced into more fully participating in family life–either by law or by women’s refusal (so by necessity)–precisely because most men are *not* like RebelDad, or the other involved fathers who read this blog.
Much to RebelDad’s ire, I think many of her points, though polemic, have merit (hence a heated debate ato RebelHouse today while RebelKid played upstairs with a friend…our geeky version of fun is certain to mortify her in just a few year:-)
Sandy
17. Mar, 2007
I agree that many of Hirshman’s points do have merit. The problem with this, however, is that she seems to think that domestic chores are so repugnant that no sane person should ever choose to do them.
She thinks men must be forced into more fully participating in family life–either by law or by women’s refusal (so by necessity)–precisely because most men are *not* like RebelDad, or the other involved fathers who read this blog
This is what is so frustrating. Her solutions to “the problem” are unpalatable at best. Make work easier for all parents by changing the corporate world, flex-time, child care, etc.? Nope, just a cop-out, according to her. All of the onus for change is on women themselves – they should refuse to have kids, refuse to do housework, refuse to marry, etc. Legislating paternal leave is about the only suggestion she’s made that does make some sense. Well, that and “don’t marry a jerk”, and “vote”, which others have said better.
And the use of “mommybloggers” is totally typical of Hirshman (see my review for a more detailed look at at how SAH moms are portrayed in her book).