Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Don't Argue With This Feminist
Lisa Belkin put up a post today on her new Equal Parenting blog in the New York Times that is notable for two reasons. The first is that it covers formal contracts for the division of household labor, an old idea that still has a lot of relevance to any of us interested in having egalitarian relationships. The second is that the post was inspired by work done by my wife, Beth, who teaches Family Law and Sex-Based Discrimination. As part of those classes, she leads her students through the process of negotiating such a contract with their partner. Here's how Lisa covered the topic:An e-mail message from Beth Burkstrand-Reid, who teaches family law and sex-based discrimination at the American University Washington College of Law, reminded me of an article I read long ago by Alix Kates Schulman. In 1969 Schulman created an elaborate agreement that divided household labor, itemizing who did such tasks as “getting children to and from lessons, doctors, dentists, friends’ houses, park, parties, movies, library, etc.” or “calling doctors, checking out symptoms, getting prescriptions filled, remembering to give medicine, taking days off to stay home with sick child” or “helping with homework, personal problems, projects like cooking, making gifts, experiments, planting, etc., answering questions, explaining things.”Read the whole thing here.
Welcome to the blogosphere, Beth!
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