There have been a lot of articles lately on whether the so-called "Opt-out Revolution" - where educated women apparently left the workforce in droves to be stay-at-home or work-at-home mothers - actually took place. See here and here to get an idea of the discussion. A new blog that I've found also offers some interesting commentary on the subject.
I know very few SAHMs who didn't intend for it to be that way. They are, for the most part, intelligent and educated, but having an outside career was never as important to them as being able to stay home and look after their family. Some of them find ways to contribute to the family bank account by investing in a home-based business, becoming consultants for Avon or The Pampered Chef or other similar companies, but it's more of a hobby than a business. They are living their dream.
I also know a lot of moms who enjoyed maternity leave, but who were happy to get back to work when their time was up. It's not that they spent a lot of time and money on their education (although that's often true), or that they don't like spending time with their toddlers (definitely not true). They crave the intellectual stimulation and - almost always - really really love their jobs.
Most common, however, I think are the moms who were in jobs that were just "okay", ones where the work wasn't very fulfilling. These are the women who said, "If I'm going to be spending time away from my children, it better be for something good." I think that if we've seen a proliferation of anything over the past few years, it's been of the Work-at-Home Mom, or the Mompreneur; in other words, the Mom that's taken her future and her children's future into her own hands. These women have realized that the only way they will achieve all of their personal and professional goals is if they are the boss.
And if that's the case and women are choosing to chart their own course, then what are they really "Opting-out" of anyway? Rather than looking at it in those terms, terms which imply that women are running away or escaping from something, why don't we look at it as creating a new economy? Given the state of the economy we have now, maybe a few changes are in order. Maybe opting-out isn't such a bad idea after all.
(Thanks to Laurie at Mobile Mommy for leading me to the Becky & Hollee post)
1 comments:
Love it! I think you make a great point - a lot of women are only "opting out" because they didn't care in the first place for their job. Having a job or career you are passionate about is sadly not that common for women it seems. And I think that if this is a revolution - it's bound to cause some serious good to happen!
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