I can’t give you one of those annoying “I Voted” stickers that are passed out on election days (is there one that says, “I Not Only Voted, But I Read Up On The Issues First”?), but I can urge you to weigh in on the Economist magazine’s debate on women and work.
Motion before the House: This House believes that a women’s place is at work.
Karin already has done an excellent job of explaining the issue, which pits American Enterprise Institute scholar and IWF friend Christina Hoff Sommers against Linda Basch, president of the National Council for Research on Women.
As quoted in Karin’s coverage, Basch argues:
Women belong in the workplace. It is right for families, communities, the economy and, most importantly, for women so that they can live to their full potential as productive and self-reliant individuals.
Hoff Sommers counters:
Women do not have an assigned place. In free societies, they choose where they wish to be. For at least 5m women in America, that happens to be in the home as full-time mothers. What is wrong with that?
This is a subject near and dear to IWF’s heart. Whenever we are asked what women should do, we say that women should decide for themselves, based on interests, talents, values, and circumstances, whether they want to work at home or in an office.
We do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach for women’s lives, and we reject the straightjacket that some of our counterparts advocate.
At this writing, Hoff Sommers’ position is winning (58-42) but please click and support the proposition that we women can do whatever we want to do.