Megan Pinand’s passage, “Stories from the Sidelines” really hit home to me because like her I imagine myself in a successful well-paid job after schooling. However, just like her I want to have a family and not abandon my children for my career. It was interesting to hear how there is no correct answer and that we are told as young college students that we can “have it all”. Pinand has already begun to see the troubles in trying to secure her career and have children before she even has any. Pinand’s piece correlates to the “Mommy Tax”. This chapter really blew my mind because I would have never imagined a situation like the one that DiBiasi found herself in. Women’s leaving the workforce to tend to their children is portrayed as a choice in our society. However, DiBiasi’s story showed how she did everything she could to stay at her job and not leave the workforce. I thought it was ridiculous how are bosses purposely changed her job to something that was not feasible with her obligations to motherhood. Basically, she was discriminated against and forced out of the workforce. http://cnettv.cnet.com/another-look-opting-out/9742-1_53-50028934.html I found this video of a philosopher Linda Hirshman, describing how women need to choose to stay in the workforce as opposed to quitting. I found this to go completely against the “Mommy Tax”. Hirshman says women need to choose not to leave the workforce and balance their lives without giving up their careers. I agree with Hirshman that women should not leave the workforce, but I do not agree that all women are choosing to leave. Something that even surprised me more was the discrimination that men faced by trying to help out more with family life. This is horrible and shows how employers are not valuing family life for both women and men.
From a sociological standpoint, women are being subjected to criticism for remaining in the workforce and leaving the workforce. In my economics class, we are currently discussing poverty. Single women with children make up the largest poverty group in America and most welfare programs are targeted to them. However, if they do find work, they are criticized for not being there for their children. This is a ridiculous concept because there can definitely be a balance between work and family life. Another thing that blows my mind is how women who went to University of Michigan Law School were being paid less than men who basically had the same educational experience. We need to get rid of these stupid stereotypes of women and how they are judged if they work part time, and also judged if they are a stay at home mother. These articles scared me a little bit because I plan on getting an MBA and making a good living for my family. However, I want to be there with my kids while they are growing up and I would want my husband there too. I could imagine how hard the balance would be, but I never realized it would become so hard that an employer was able to force me out of the workforce.
Your experience reading these articles resonates with mine, and I imagine probably with a lot of other members of this class. It is terrible that women are feeling like they are being forced out of the workplace even when they do their utmost to maintain their positions. Before reading these articles, I had never really thought about how difficult it must be to balance work and family life and how it is made more difficult by the workplace and social environment that is imposed on women creating a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario. I agree, that one of the first steps toward creating a more equitable environment is to dispel stereotypes and quell judgment.
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