It is my moral
belief, that it is acceptable for a married woman with children to also
have a career. I do not believe that a woman should be restricted to socially
constructed duties such as housework and care taking. I feel that
women have aspirations just like men and should be able to pursue them
if they wish, without negative judgement.
We live in a society
in which marriages commonly end in divorce and children are born out of
wedlock. This forces the mother to have a career and raise children.
Society often looks at these women sympathetically and as hardworking because
it is out of necessity. However, it is not fair to penalize women
because they choose to have a career. We should not discourage it
because it is not out of necessity and does not fit the role of a woman.
The idea that our
nation promotes the very moral belief of equality contradicts the society
in which we live. For centuries men have been looked upon as great fathers
if they provide financially for their families. If we actually lived
in a nation grounded on equality, society would look at women with greatness
if they had a career and provided for their family.
I also feel women contribute
greatly to the workforce. If women were excluded from the workforce,
I believe that our country would suffer considerably. Women have
given many contributions and ideas to this society and I do not believe
they were made at the expense of their family or children. I do not
believe a child suffers because his/her mother is at work. I believe
a child suffers if their family home is unstable, neglectful, or abusive.
Morally, however a working mother does not equate an unstable home life.
Sociologically speaking,
my moral belief stems from the ideology that the man is the norm.
I have been raised in a time where society values male characteristics
more than female. We tend to hold men up as the standard to which
women aspire to be. Therefore, I do not feel it is wrong for a woman
to want to deviate from her womanly duties. Women have been made
to feel less adequate and therefore are aspiring to have what men have.
For example, the ideology of a man would be strong, independent, aggressive,
and the provider financially. These are all powerful and very respected
characteristics. The ideology of a woman would be emotional, dainty,
and passive. These characteristics are less powerful and less respected.
They denote that a woman needs a man to care for them. This
example shows how we hold men as the norm.
This leads to another sociological
idea, in which domestic work is devalued. Unpaid work, such as house
cleaning and child rearing is not valued as much as a paid jobs.
This devaluation of work lends women to want a more glamorous and noticed
job. Sociologically, we cannot blame a woman for aspiring to work
out of the home when we devalue the work done by housewives.
For example, consider this
typical scenario. There is a group of people congregating at a party.
There are three businessmen, two women with careers outside the home, and
two housewives. In introductions, they discuss careers and
education amongst each other. The first man and woman discuss how
they have their masters and work at corporate jobs. When it comes
to one of the young housewives, she informs the group she is a housewife
with two small children. The collective thought of the group would
most likely be that the woman is uneducated and her job as a housewife
is far less interesting than the two corporate jobs mentioned before her.
This example shows how a woman would a more glamorous and noteworthy career.
In addition to this, we
live in an era in which women are allowed to vote, to go to school, and
compete for jobs. This is a society, which is quite different than
previous history. We see first hand, women who are successful in
their career and have children. It is visible to us in our everyday
life and we realize it can be done without hurting our families.
This visibility encourages other women to want to do the same. The
idea of a career and children is not as radical in society as it once used
to be. Women have proof it can be done which gives them a little
more confidence.
My beliefs may also stem
from my family environment. Throughout my life, I have been instructed
and conditioned to attend college. My parents wanted me to have an
education and a career. If I did not have these ambitions after high
school they would have considered me to be a lazy girl with no goals.
I feel however, that after obtaining a college degree and establishing
a career it should not all end after having children. Our parents’
condition us to be successful and have careers, yet expect us to switch
our mindset after having children to do work that our society feels needs
no training. Furthermore, even our school teaches us to be proud of our
education and to build upon it. This mindset does not lend anyone
to want to do reproductive work in the home.
The society in which we
live plays yet another role in our thinking. We have been raised
in a capitalistic society. Money makes the world go round.
To many people, it can give you freedom or restrict you. In this
case, why would a woman raising children not want to make money?
We are trained to think of everything in terms of money. If you have
more money your kids can go to better schools, or wear better clothes,
drive better cars. Why wouldn’t a mom want to take the many opportunities
out there to make money instead of stay at home and do unpaid work?
Money can also make someone
feel more powerful. In this society it is considered prestigious
to have money. You can fit in a certain class. It seems logical
that a woman who has thus far been devalued would like to fit in a more
prestigious class and feel more powerful.
In conclusion, my moral
belief that it is acceptable, for a married woman with children, to also
have a career stems from many sociological ideas. The environment in which
I was raised and our capitalistic society play a large part in my beliefs.
The devaluation of domestic work and the idea of man as the norm also play
a part. It seems very contradictory to expect women to want to stay
at home, when we train them to believe the work is less than glamorous.