Every woman could use a wife of her own

[theatokos]

This article in today's NYT drives me nuts. While I do think that having kids, particularly infants, makes a woman have to work harder at getting things done, it is not insurmountable. The discussion of whether Palin is ready to be VP based on her having 5 kids, one of which has special needs and is an infant, drives me crazy. This discussion would never come up for a male candidate. Ever. I assume Sarah Palin has help. Either her husband or a nanny or a house keeper or some one is helping with family and home tasks. Men have help - their wives. But since Palin IS a wife, crap - who does she have to help? She should be taking care of everything! When does she find time to govern??

"...many women, citing their own difficulties with less demanding jobs, said it would be impossible for Ms. Palin to succeed both at motherhood and in the nation’s second-highest elected position at once."

But no one has ever said that about a male candidate have they? That because of the difficult task of raising a family and having a career it would be hard for a man to keep being a good father and do his job responsibly. Obama has two kids, we haven't heard this one yet, have we?

It IS hard having an infant. But we don't know if Palin is breast feeding. Probably not, is my guess, and that makes things easier for her. I'm sure Palin has help, because being a parent IS demanding work. But she's clearly getting it done, isn't she? Why would voters turn against her because they themselves can't imagine running a country? If the average mom had a house keeper and a nanny I bet she'd be able to get a lot more done.

This article is nonsense. The NYT loves to raise the "mommy wars," in fact they may have coined the term. And I hate it. It pits women against one another. I'm not sure the mommy wars even exist.

Comments

[pwilk.livejournal.com]

> I hope people will vote for or against Palin based on her policy.

good point; I suppose whether or not she is a good mommy does not have anything to do with her ability to be a president. There are plenty of men in history that were great leaders and poor fathers.