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Where the Light Enters


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"A woman who puts her profession before raising [her] children has no grounds for complaint when they are taken away." Do you find this sentiment is still present today at some level?

Created: 10/01/20

Replies: 6

Posted Oct. 01, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

"A woman who puts her profession before raising [her] children has no grounds for complaint when they are taken away." Do you find this sentiment is still present today at some level?

One of the newspaper articles quotes a priest as saying, "A woman who puts her profession before raising the children entrusted to her has no grounds for complaint when they are taken away." Although this sentiment is seldom broadly expressed today, do you find it's still present on some level? What examples are you aware of, if any?


Posted Oct. 03, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Aholtman

Join Date: 01/20/20

Posts: 5

RE: "A woman who puts her profession before raising [her] children has no grounds for complaint when they are taken away." Do you find this sentiment is still present today at some level?

Yes I do. I see a lot of working mothers being looked down upon because they want to have their career and children. Times have changed to where women are not just housekeepers anymore. Society needs to give them a break and not be so judgemental.


Posted Oct. 03, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
paulak

Join Date: 04/21/11

Posts: 264

RE: "A woman who puts her profession before raising [her] children has no grounds for complaint when they are taken away." Do you find this sentiment is still present today at some level?

Sadly, it seems some folks are quick to find fault on any issue. Perhaps that is the brain's way of making sense of tragedy. But yes, I find that sentiment is often true today, perhaps not as much as in the late 1800's but you'd think we'd have made more progress!


Posted Oct. 03, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
gerrieb

Join Date: 09/03/19

Posts: 208

RE: "A woman who puts her profession before raising [her] children has no grounds for complaint when they are taken away." Do you find this sentiment is still present today at some level?

Yes I do. Women are judged by a totally different standard than men are. Women need to work to provide for their children but are often criticized for doing so, yet, women who choose not to have children and work also meet with criticism . Our society encourages women to have children and yet we, as a society provide little resources for them when they do. Maternal mortality rates are higher in the USA and rising, the only developed country in which this is happening. Ambitious women are often maligned for being ambitious while for men it is seen as a desirable trait. Recently my daughter’s female boss chastised me for only having one child, telling me it was my duty to have more children since I raised such a lovely daughter. While I appreciated the “ compliment” I was aghast at the comment. Society has a long, long way to go before women have a level playing field in society, and I fear we are going backwards not forwards.


Posted Oct. 04, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
shirleyl

Join Date: 06/01/11

Posts: 73

RE: "A woman who puts her profession before raising [her] children has no grounds for complaint when they are taken away." Do you find this sentiment is still present today at some level?

Years ago I worked in an elementary school. I was always annoyed when on the data card for the student under Occupation the female parent would write "Mother". Being a mother is not an occupation, it is a relationship. Of course this relationship requires the performance of many tasks, some of them incredibly difficult and mind numbing. Either parent might decide to not pursue a career while preforming the important relationship of parenting. That is certainly a noble decision if it is possible and desired. I think if we more consistently thought in terms of differentiating occupations and relationships, women ( and men) would be more clear and more respected for their decision as to when they want to forego the relationship of parenting or forego having an occupation. Relationships and occupations are in two different lanes.They should not be confused as the same, but rather as two aspects of human life. There must be balance between the two, for both Mothers and Fathers.


Posted Oct. 06, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
susiej

Join Date: 10/15/14

Posts: 363

RE:

Shirleyl, above, addresses this question well, and I agree with her. But I will add to that - I have not seen or heard of an incident in which a mother has lost her children due to focus on her profession in my lifetime. Perhaps I am simply naive or unaware, but women have become a force in the workplace while managing a home at the same time. And they seem to do it better and better as time passes. I simply do not know of any woman who has lost her children because of her professional involvement. Perhaps someone can enlighten me?


Posted Oct. 06, 2020 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
evelyng

Join Date: 02/07/18

Posts: 49

RE: "A woman who puts her profession before raising [her] children has no grounds for complaint when they are taken away." Do you find this sentiment is still present today at some level?

Although today children are not taken away from professional women, in many other ways the children sail out of sight for some professional women who leave the upbringing of their children to the care of Nannies, who are not always the best choice for the children. Unkempt houses and children happen all too often in today's world where women decide they really want to maintain or go back to careers after having 2,3 or more children. Nice if you can do it....even better if you can do it well. For the women who have to work and make do with haphazard child care, God Bless you.


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