The Myths of Feminism

Over the past twenty years, feminism has successfully ensconced itself as the national philosophy of gender. In consequence, economic and cultural warfare against traditional sex roles virtually defines gender policy today. This onslaught is furthered by a series of false beliefs, which can be described as the “myths of feminism.” Politically, five of these myths stand out:

Myth #1: “Most women are now working.” So the main-stream media have regularly informed us for several years. Often they give a specific figure, overwhelming in its bland finality: the Department of Labor (DOL) reports that 57.6 per cent of women with children under the age of 18 are now working (1986 data). But the category, on examination, turns out to be so broadly drawn that scarcely any woman can escape it. (My remarks on this subject are indebted to the excellent analysis by Cheri Loveless in What’s a Smart Woman like You Doing at Home?} Of the 57.6 per cent of “working mothers,” some are working part time only, leaving an actual residue of 41.2 per cent who work full time. The DOL also classifies as “working mothers” women on maternity leave, as many as 40 per cent of whom elect not to return to work after their children are born; mothers who work from their homes; mothers who help out with a family business or farm; mothers with flexible hours (such as some airline schedules that involve only two days of intensive flying per week); and mothers who babysit the children of other mothers. Millions of American housewives would be astonished to learn that the government classifies them as “working women.”

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Over the past twenty years, feminism has successfully ensconced itself as the national philosophy of gender. In consequence, economic and cultural warfare against traditional sex roles virtually defines gender policy today. This onslaught is furthered by a series of false beliefs, which can be described as the “myths of feminism.” Politically, five of these myths stand out:

Myth #1: “Most women are now working.” So the main-stream media have regularly informed us for several years. Often they give a specific figure, overwhelming in its bland finality: the Department of Labor (DOL) reports that 57.6 per cent of women with children under the age of 18 are now working (1986 data). But the category, on examination, turns out to be so broadly drawn that scarcely any woman can escape it. (My remarks on this subject are indebted to the excellent analysis by Cheri Loveless in What’s a Smart Woman like You Doing at Home?} Of the 57.6 per cent of “working mothers,” some are working part time only, leaving an actual residue of 41.2 per cent who work full time. The DOL also classifies as “working mothers” women on maternity leave, as many as 40 per cent of whom elect not to return to work after their children are born; mothers who work from their homes; mothers who help out with a family business or farm; mothers with flexible hours (such as some airline schedules that involve only two days of intensive flying per week); and mothers who babysit the children of other mothers. Millions of American housewives would be astonished to learn that the government classifies them as “working women.”