I have little patience with people who I think purposefully do not think. Therefore in dealing with them I sometimes do little to guard my words. It is a vice, as you no doubt have seen. Your point is well taken.
Nevertheless, I find nothing philosophically objectionable about what I have said here. Ultimately homemakers cannot be replaced by men while female workers can. You see, where families with children are concerned, the role of homemaker encompasses the very organic role of nurturing wife and mother, and men simply cannot generally fill this role. On the other hand, a man can replace virtually any working woman. This is no commentary on women as people, and I believe working women every bit equal to those who manage their homes. It is a commentary on roles. Philosophically, to esteem homemakers less than working women is illogical.
It seems Michelle has an almost maniacal disdain for the notion that women who manage their homes are equal to those who work outside the home. It also seems when she encounters others who do not agree with what to me is her rather warped point-of-view, she resorts to name-calling and the like. Well, I of all people understand what it is like to call names. I have a gift for it. Nevertheless, since my repentance I have not, unlike Michelle, used this gift here in earnest, this, despite the fact that she has masochistically appealed to it.
>Your argument that women who stay at home should be respected, honored, and admired is absolutely valid. But you sometimes express with such passion that you give the impression that you think little of any woman who chooses to work. And I know this is not what you mean.<
No. This is not at all what I mean. I comment on roles. It is really a matter of context. Speaking essentially, in context of business I would not think much of a woman who presented herself to me as a surgeon but whose gifts were in home management. On the other hand in context of home management I would not think much of a working woman, meaning a woman in Michelle's predicament. In context of business I would think higher of a woman surgeon than a homemaker. In context of family management I would think higher of a homemaker than a woman surgeon.
Now in the larger context of humanity the role of the working woman is philosophically expendable, whereas the role of homemaker simply is not. Again, where families with children are concerned men generally cannot to the same extent as women fill the role of homemaker. Nevertheless men can fill the role of working women. In this context I am compelled to value the role of homemakers at least as high, indeed very much higher, than that of working women (or working men, and this should be a hint to you that the debate with Michelle is really a false one).
Of course since most working women can be homemakers, there is a question with which we must contend. Philosophically, can working homemakers fill the same role as full-time homemakers? It is plain to see they cannot. No doubt they can fill the role in part, but by default they cannot fill it to the same extent as the full-time homemaker. Since in the larger context I value the homemaker above the working woman, and since I reasonably would value the better homemaker, I must value the full-time homemaker above the part-time homemaker. This is not to say I think “little” of working women or working homemakers as people. I think less of their roles when comparing them to the full-time homemaker's in context of overall societal development. Indeed I think less of the working man's role than I do the full-time homemaker's. Generally, the working man can be replaced in most instances (but not in all) by a woman, you see.
So then do I think the full-time homemaker above all? Absolutely not, we have all this time in debating this issue with Michelle, been mixing apples and oranges. I think the role of husband/father to be equal to that of the full-time homemaker (i.e. wife/mother). Ultimately, setting aside metaphysical considerations, the thrust of humanity is to spread around DNA such that the next generation goes forth in health. The husband/wife team does this better than any single working woman or man. Philosophically speaking, since a full time homemaker can nurture a home better than either a man or a part time female homemaker, I am compelled by reason to esteem the Fulltime husband-father/Fulltime homemaker team far above others.
>My personal opinion on this matter is that in families where the mom works, parents must find arrangements to make time for their kids in a way that ensures that both fulfill their respective role and obligations towards them. This requires a lot of flexibility from both the mom, AND the Dad.<
Agreed.
>In any case, I will encourage my daughters to get as much education as they can, so that they can have a choice.<
I would encourage my daughters to get as much education as they can simply because it makes them better people. My wife is highly educated, has taught at the university level (mathematics, general philosophy and symbolic logic) and now writes. She invests the lion's share of her intellectual capital into our family, especially into our children (we homeschool). The results of her efforts are impressive. We have a son who at a young age now attends one of the top universities in this country. We have several others who are well on their way. A few Saturdays ago my family attended a dinner at which we adults began discussing a novel (historical Civil War novel). My nine-year-old had read the novel and so decided to participate with us as opposed to playing with the other children. The adults for a time thought it a joke, but when my son began to speak, they were astounded that he could so powerfully articulate his views on the book and on the war in general. I saw that very rapidly the adults forgot he was only nine, and for quite sometime dialogued with him as freely as if he were an adult. Afterward a working mom approached us wanting to know how she could help her son acquire such presence of mind. My wife, without a second's pause, said that the woman would first have to quit her job. She added that the discipline of children takes years of focused love and time, that from infancy it requires lots and lots and lots and lots of focused time observing their parents relishing the world.
This was my wife's plan from the beginning, and she has implemented her plan flawlessly. I adore her. She is a woman of extraordinary vision. After our sons leave home, my wife plans to grow her business in earnest. And I will dedicate everything I have to help her succeed. She will not want for any resource because she has dedicated so much to me. She derives a great deal of fulfillment observing the development of the minds of her children. And those children, like their father, cherish her. Many people have the notion that women who stay at home are uneducated or think daughters should not gain an education. I know no one who fits this description, and I know very many people who believe as I do regarding the family. |
