This originally appeared on HuffingtonPost.com. Republished here with permission. So what’s your name now? Life used to be so simple. Women didn’t worry too much about what they majored in at college because they expected Mrs. Degrees; to marry men who would support them for the rest of their lives. When a woman married, she […]
Cohabitating is perfectly normal in today’s society. Yet “perfect” is not always what it seems and “normal” may not always be best. According to the National Survey of Family Growth, a 2002 survey of 13,000 respondents, 61 percent of women in their late 30s had cohabitated at some point in their lives, and 28 percent […]
What is it about marriage—an institution that was originally a means of transferring wealth along with domestic and reproductive services horizontally within society and vertically in a family—that we still fetishize so much? A lot of people, grandmas and older aunts and uncles notwithstanding, will tell you that marriage is the ultimate goal. You know […]
This was originally posted at Love, Joy, Feminism. Republished with permission. Libby Anne describes herself as having grown up in a family influenced by the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements. A good deal of the pain we feel in our day-to-day lives comes from unmet expectations. As an example, if my husband doesn’t put his […]
I’ve accumulated several licenses after 37 years. These documents empower me as a woman and contribute to my identity. My transition into adulthood is unequivocally tied to my credentials. My paperwork is a timeline of personal and professional growth. When I received my driver’s license, I felt incredibly free. (It’s amazing what four wheels and […]
This article originally appeared on The Nation. Republished here with permission. New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor released a new book yesterday about the Obamas titled, appropriately, The Obamas. It’s clear from promotional materials and Kantor’s own interviews that what’s different about this book is its positioning of first lady Michelle Obama as the pivotal […]
One spring, I am at an art show, and my fabulous midwife Michelle Fitzgerald stops by my show. I’m delighted to see her. She asks after my kids first, then my husband. I stumble a bit, trying to say that we weren’t together anymore. It hadn’t been but two-and-a-half years since she delivered our youngest […]
This week, we came across an article in Businessweek called Behind Every Great Woman by Carol Hymowitz. It explores the changing rules of many modern families—as more women earn high-level corporate roles, more husbands are staying home to raise their children. And since 23% of wives now out-earn their husbands, women now fill a (slight) […]
Mass media has trumpeted a market research study’s conclusion that young, single, childless, white women living in cities out-earn their male counterparts. Feminists would love to embrace the results, but, in fact, the analysis has many flaws, including the failure to account for educational differences. That hasn’t stopped The New York Times from characterizing this […]
Making New Year’s resolutions about work/life balance? If you want to tilt the scales towards either more working or more living this year, how much control does your household have to make it happen? Work/life balance conversations inevitably get framed in terms of work quantity. Are we working too much, or too little? How well […]
This piece was originally published at the Good Men Project. Republished with permission. Upon finishing The Atlantic’s November cover story “All the Single Ladies” I found myself focusing on the words “deadbeat,” “player,” and “good man.” I don’t disagree with Bolick about what women are facing in the changing landscape of relationships between men and women. […]
I am a stay-at-home mother of three. Right there, I bet you conjured an instant visualization. It’s alright, don’t feel bad. Domestic imagining is an easy game to play. Personally, I find it fascinating to notice how deeply I fall into the classic ‘mom’ stereotype and yet how simultaneously allergic I am to some of […]
