Michelle Obama Slights Working Women
Yesterday I wrote that Michelle Obama was not making utmost use of her brilliance and sterling résumé by describing her duties upon moving into the White House as, "Mom in Chief."
Here's some of the rest of what I said:
Granted, her personal choices are hers to make. But as a career woman, I think it's a shame and a setback for us all that Michelle Obama publicly belittles her professional side as she enters the culturally influential first lady spot. I'm not suggesting she emulate Hillary Clinton's "buy one get one free" approach. But Mrs. Obama is perfectly capable of keeping her own independent career going while being a "mom in chief" at the same time.
Today we discussed this issue on my PBS news analysis program, To the Contrary.
The panel was made up of D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, Megan Beyer of Women for Obama and a longtime Democratic fundraiser, Linda Chavez, noted conservative columnist and commentator, and Genevieve Wood, also noted conservative commentator, now with the Heritage Foundation and formerly with the Family Research Council.
They all disagreed with me. It was a 4-1 blowout.
I mean no disrespect to mothers (and everyone of the four of them has children except Genevieve) but "working" to raise your children is making use of a different set of talents—a more private set of talents than a public set of talents--than is using the platform of being first lady to further the cause of working women, whether they be mothers or not.
The feminist movement (of which I'm not a part--labels make me nervous) has been so burned by conservatives who labeled feminists as "anti-motherhood" that the movement still has not found a comfortable place to reside in the chasm between career or working women and fulltime female homemakers. Working women and full-time homemakers need not be political opponents. But they do differ in the fact women never needed to fight for their right to stay home full time. That right was never denied to women. They did, however, have to fight for equal rights in the workplace, and that fight continues today.
When highly educated, accomplished women such Michelle Obama give up their own work to take a back seat to their husband's careers, that is a slight to at least some career-oriented women.
Michelle Obama occupies a unique place in history as the first African-American first lady. Anything she does will serve as a target for criticism. I'm not criticizing her decision. I'm saying it stings women such as me who have dedicated their lives to fighting for workplace rights, as did the now widely denounced Opt Out Revolution. This so-called Revolution, by the way, was more of a statistical blip on the screen than a revolution.
Is being first lady a job? Well, kind of. But that's all in how it's positioned by the occupant. If Michelle Obama said she was going to work part-time as first lady with her cause (as it is) being military families and working women, while caring for her two daughters part-time, that wouldn't have stung as much. After all, the Obamas are moving Michelle's mother into the White House to help with child care. So it's not as if her wonderful children will lack for parental or grand-parental attention. And Megan Beyer, who worked on the Obama campaign, pointed out that two days after being elected, Barack Obama attended his daughters' parent teacher conference—a fact not nearly as widely promoted as his wife's self-imposed moniker, "Mom in Chief."
I like that he's sharing in parental responsibility while seeing to his career. I wish she would do as good a job.
Tags: working women | Michelle Obama | feminism
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Reader Comments
you go bonnie
You are l00 percent right in your analysis of the traditional line taken by Mrs Obama, a direct conradiction of her career as a corporate lawyer. For every woman who becomes a lawyer and then opts out, all the cliches about the pointlessness of educating women seem too true. Adlai Stevenson told women that they needed education to be good mothers and wives. He'd be impressed...if thsi were l955.
Your Feminism
If Michelle Obama slights working women by making a commitment to be a mother, then you slight working mothers by assuming a woman is valuable only if her work is outside the realm of the home and is paid a salary.
What does the woman WANT to work at - if she wants to work at home to nurture and be a role model and teacher for her children, other women should be supporting the ways and means she needs to do that. That is the ultimate feminism - women supporting other women to make their own best choice. Not just to do what you think they should do to make salaries equitable in the workplace, eschewing family responsibility as less honorable than your professional career.
Where is the salary for the working mother at home and why won't feminists work and fight for that right? So is "Women's Liberation" only a liberation from the stove and apron-strings, or is it the true meaning of liberation - a freedom from being held to one model by an oppressive overpowering force. That actually sounds like what you are saying. Maybe we need a new name, "Liberation," period. Then we may all aspire to the movement without slighting anybody else who aspires to it? What a bunch of junk thinking! The Women's Liberation and/or feminist movement did something great for women - gave them the power to choose what kind of work they wanted to do. Now that some of us women are choosing to work with our families at home, why shouldn't we expect to get paid for it? What would a manager expect to get paid for directing activities, building moral character, instilling values, educating, protecting, feeding and cleaning one to four employees at work for 18-22 years, and then staying on as an on-call consultant for the next 10 years? And how much would he have in his investment portfolio or pension fund by then? How about you? Now there's a goal for the feminist movement to work on!
Michelle as a mother is a perfect role model for me as will be her work and commitment to community service and other causes she champions as First Lady.
I am glad she will be a full time mother and homemaker. That is a wonderful job millions of women do everyday. Her husband will need her for support and her kids need her. That is a huge JOB. Reality check MOST women want to be with their families full time taking care of them. What is so sad is all the children who are away from their parents from 7 to about 6 everyday leaving them a grand total of maybe 2 to 3 hours a day with them. How sad 10 th 15 hours weekday family time. Doesn't sound like much af a family? And lets be real those 2 to 3 hours isn't really time together but time preparing for the next day. What about marriage? When both are working and then coming home exahausted trying to household chores, make dinner and take care of kids it can be overwhelming and exhausting. A lot emotional needs are neglected due to stress and being tired. Fighting and resentment blossom. Life is short. I think Michelle might help many families get off this nightmare of two working families.
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