First of all, why we even need an International Women’s Day is beyond me. I’ve never been a fan of made-up days to celebrate anything, let alone one expressly to supposedly celebrate my gender. Maybe that’s just me, though I highly doubt it.
Judging by some of the television commercials I saw recently, you’d think the only thing American women have to celebrate on International Women’s Day is us trying (and failing) to be the same as men or somehow defeating men. The airwaves and the interwebs are full of angry and indignant pro-feminism leftist commercials and programming telling us that the only women worthy of celebration are the ones who “take over for men in a man’s world.”
Do people really still voluntarily watch TV? If so, why, for Pete’s sake? Why?
Anyway, those god-awful commercials started me thinking about women like me. About the millions of women around the world, but more specifically, American women like me on the right, who voluntarily chose to put our careers on hold in order to spend many (many!) years nurturing and parenting our children and caring for our families, including those of us who, in addition, also care for our aging parents. Why aren’t we worthy of celebration this International Women’s Day? Why aren’t we represented in commercials and with celebrations? Why aren’t our sacrifices and skills to be admired without condescending equivocations or prevarications?
To be clear, these are merely rhetorical questions because you know as well as I do why women on the right aren’t represented or celebrated—the left doesn’t value what we do. Thankfully, we who chose to put our children first—to be mothers, housewives, and caretakers— are indeed worthy, and further, we don’t need (or want) the approval of the left.
Our work (yes, work!) raising the next generation (and sometimes the generation after that) and caring for the previous generation continues. Sometimes we also work outside of the family as well, but our work continues without fanfare and without your approval, feminists. For many years, my main job was taking care of my two boys. In addition, I worked freelance and volunteered in other capacities. While it wasn’t originally the plan, after having my boys, it became crystal clear to me that if I wanted to raise two well-adjusted kids while living deep in the heart of the bluest of blue states, I needed to be there every step of the way Looking back, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Frankly, I take pride in the fact that I raised two boys, deep in deep-blue California, who today are not only functioning young adults who are not on drugs, welfare, or my living in my basement, but who are both unwaveringly America-loving conservatives.
Because I chose to put my boys before my own ambitions, each of my sons has graduated from college with useful degrees, honors, and zero debt (yes, it can be done) not because we’re rich (we’re definitely not rich) but because of hard work, sacrifice, and a few academic and athletic scholarships along the way.
So, sorry angry, unfulfilled feminists, but on International Women’s Day, here’s to the stay-at-home moms, the housewives, the part-time workers, the freelancers, and the caretakers who work hard and sacrifice every day to take care of our families and don’t need recognition or phony celebrations because we know “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”
