Newsbusters’ Candance Moore spots Newsweek searching for the proverbial silver lining of the Oba-recession:
Newsweek writer Kathleen Deveny found a strange way to spin the current economic recession as a blessing in disguise.
In a column published Friday called “Unemployed Families Need to Man Up,” Deveny visited the topic of working mothers and the difficulties of raising children while juggling a career.
Conservatives who broach this subject are usually met with disdain from the liberal media for being anti-feminist. But when mitigating a recession under a Democrat president, it was suddenly okay to discuss reasons why a career would be a burden.
Yet Deveny didn’t see a troublesome schedule as an obstacle for women – rather, it was a chance to complain that mothers could handle the workload just fine if not for Archie Bunker living at home:
I would like to believe that for families who can get through this economic slump in one piece-without losing jobs or health insurance or homes-these hard times might encourage a rebalancing of responsibilities.
Deveny began with anecdotes about the hard choices a busy woman makes. For a moment, she inadvertently echoed conservative points that mothers need more absence from work, tend to feel more guilt about bad parenting, and often end up earning smaller salaries, partly due to sexism but also stemming from the frequent time off.
During a major economic slump, Deveny found that women felt more pressure to perform in order to keep their jobs, and managers were less accommodating about absenteeism. For working women already predisposed to feeling stress, this made life all the more complicated.
These problems might tempt a struggling couple to secure a full-time job for the man while the woman remained at home. Indeed, a study by the Pew Research Center found that in 2009, over half of working women preferred a job with limited hours, and more than 80% of parents believed that children need a mother at home at least part time.
Feminist arguments about women being liberated through careers have not caught on with mothers in the real world. But Deveny would have none of her fellow women retreating in the workplace, even if they wanted to.
Hey, look on the bright side: at least Joy Behar and George “when I was a kid, [stay-at-home dads] were called bums” Lopez didin’t write the article.
Meanwhile, at the Weekly Standard, Victorino Matus quips, “What Recession?”
I recently received a brochure from my alma mater, Georgetown University, entitled “Around the World by Private Jet: An Exploration of the World’s Greatest Treasures & Legendary Places” running from September 28 to October 19, 2010. The 22-day journey includes visits to Machu Picchu, Easter Island, Samoa, the Great Barrier Reef, Angkor Wat, the Pyramids, Tanzania, Morocco, and the Taj Mahal — all aboard your very own private Boeing 757. Besides traveling with your other fellow Hoyas, you are accompanied by Smithsonian scholars and even a dedicated physician.
The cost per double occupancy, found tucked in the corner toward the end of the brochure, comes to $59,950. Single occupancy brings an additional fee of $7,950.
“By joining the Around the World by Private Jet expedition,” the alumni executive director assures us, “you will automatically support efforts to enhance the conditions of the places and peoples we visit — there is no further commitment necessary on your part….”
Really? You mean once we pay the $60,000, that’s it? What a steal!
If I find out any of my classmates are on this trip, I will be sure to greet them at Dulles Airport with jeers, rotten fruit, and demands for redistribution of wealth.
Who knows what the fun-loving folks at Plane Stupid will do to the polar bears next when they hear about this!
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