Women - Are We Giving Up Too Much?

Monday, May 18, 2009

A friend of mine, Leslie Bennetts, author of the “The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much” wrote a piece in Elle magazine titled, “The Upstarter Wife” a story about Gigi Levangie Grazer and how she triumphantly approached her divorce, that I feel compelled to write about.  Levangie, a very successful women and author approached divorce much differently, I believe than women who quit their careers when they get married or have children.  After reading the article, again I am questioning why women sacrifice their financial security for motherhood and wonder whether we are giving up too much?  Is the media in part to blame? Does the media only give us one side of the story?  Is the dream of the white picket fence so strong that we ignore the reality of the “what if”?

Leslie argues that most women who have quit the labor force to be full time mothers are being lulled into a false sense of complacency about relinquishing their financial autonomy – which I wholeheartedly agree with.  The media gives lots of coverage to women who quit the labor force to become full-time mothers, and treat this decision as if it were simply a lifestyle choice. The media never seems to mention the “risks of economic dependency – or the myriad benefits of work.” As a result, Leslie argues that women have been lulled into a dangerous sense of complacency about relinquishing their financial autonomy?  Why hasn’t the media or anyone else told the truth about how much these women might be sacrificing—or what the consequences could be? 

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