The feminine mistake
Subtitle: are we giving up too much?
By: Leslie Bennetts
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Voice/Hyperion
Published: 2007
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 350
ISBN-13: 9781401303068
Subjects: Employment; Sex role; Economic aspects; Feminism; Women
Description: Women are often told that it's too difficult to balance work and family, so if they don't really "have to" work, it's better for their families if they stay home. Not only is this untrue, journalist Bennetts says, but the arguments in favor of stay-at-home motherhood fail to consider the surprising benefits of work and the unexpected toll of giving it up. Combining work and family really is the best choice for most women, and it's eminently doable. Earning money and being successful make women feel great, and when women sacrifice their financial autonomy by quitting their jobs, they become vulnerable to divorce as well as the potential illness, death, or unemployment of their breadwinner husbands. But women who stop working sacrifice far more than financial security--Bennetts' research documents the steep toll when women forfeit the intellectual, emotional, psychological, and even medical benefits of self-sufficiency.--From publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Back to the future : "it's a 1950s life!"; title: 2. Opting out : "it's like the slaughter of the lambs"; title: 3. But what if ... : "I never thought about that!"; title: 4. Opting back in : "no one told me it would be so hard!"; title: 5. Risky business : "how am I going to live?"; title: 6. The fifteen-year paradigm : "it really does get easier!"; title: 7. Who says it doesn't work? : "it can be done!"; title: 8. The joys of the full life : "it's hard for me to imagine who I'd be if I didn't work"; title: 9. It's the money, honey : "God bless the wife who's got her own!"; title: 10. Men, marriage, and money : "it's a macho thing!"; title: 11. Home equity : "my husband and I are peers"; title: 12. But what about the children? : "you know what? I think my kids really benefited!"; title: 13. Backward progress : "you're taking the safe road!"; title: 14. The anxiety of liberty : "what am I going to do with my life?"