Saturday, May 5, 2012

An Op-Ed Piece: No War on Women; War On the Homemaker

            A lot is being said on both sides of the aisle about a “War on Women.” Both sides claim the other is unfair to women, and many claim that working conditions remain unfair for them. While there is significant evidence to support all these views, the larger issue is being overlooked. This isn’t really a war on women: it is a war on the Homemaker, the original position of the woman in society.
            A homemaker, as the name suggests, cares for, manages, and organizes the home, as well as raise the children of the family. This role has throughout history been the job of women, but few understand just how much power this job had and how important it was. While men took other jobs like farming or banking, women were given total control of the home. This meant that they had to educate children, manage finances, bake, organize, maintain property, instill character, clean, entertain, set the best example possible for children and do many, many more things. This was and is a full time job that few today recognize as such, and which requires a broad base of knowledge and skills unlike any other profession.
            But does this job have any power? Quite a lot, actually, though it is a lot deeper a power than many understand. The strength of all societies relies on the inner strength of their people. If citizens do not have moral virtue, go uneducated, and possess no character to speak of, a society will devolve into anarchy or governments will be forced to effectively enslave their people. The basis for the intelligence and moral fiber of men and women lies in what they learn at home. Institutions and nannies have tried and failed to instill these lessons in people and children, and other family systems like the single parent household fail to be as effective too. In short, without the homemaker society would slowly collapse from moral, mental and emotional decay.
            In the Middle Ages this role was revered as it should have been, this reverence for women and their position being expressed in the idea of chivalry, and for a long time this idea stuck and women were greatly respected. Then, sometime in the 1800’s, men turned against the homemakers and devalued them, instituting rules in government to limit their freedoms and settle all disputes in the favor of men. When women grew aware of this they were naturally furious, and organized against it. This eventually developed into the feminist movement, but a key mistake was made: the feminists accepted the devaluation of the homemaker and instead wanted to do men’s jobs. Now nobody wanted to be a homemaker any more.
            The result of all this has been that neither the man nor the woman are expected to take care of children unless they have to. The job is empty, and nobody is willing to take it. Homes are now houses, cleaned by maids not moms. Raising children is now done by schools, nannies, the government and other organizations, but none of them do a good job of it. But worst of all, with no person loving, guiding, educating or inspiring children today, kids suffer in a thousand different ways, as has been shown by many different scientific studies. And still, people look at the world around us and wonder why things are so bad. What we are experiencing isn’t an ongoing war on women; women are fighting on both sides. We are experiencing the effects of losing the war on the homemaker: a war which we can still win if we try.

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