This might be the secret of the housewife theory of history: These women take the qualities that are supposed to render them irrelevant and use them defiantly as well as strategically. Starting with what they love, they cut straight through the quicksand of motives and purposes to point out that harm has been done and should be stopped. In some sense, they depoliticize politics, which is what makes them so politically potent.
Friday, June 10, 2005
History and Housewives
AlterNet has posted an essay by Rebecca Solnit about "The Housewife Theory of History." It gives a remarkable review of the way ordinary women have altered history. Here's a quote about the secret to their success:
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4 comments:
Come on who is a housewife these days. It takes two people to make a living. Women are more than just housewives. Don't mind my soapbox the word housewife ruffles my feathers, as you know I have never fit that description. Maybe we need to take on the subject of heath care. When a person has cancer and does not have health insurance their is not a program of any kind that will allow them to have chemo without coverage. How many women or men for that matter have been given a death sentence because of that.
Come on who is a housewife these days. It takes two people to make a living. Women are more than just housewives. Don't mind my soapbox the word housewife ruffles my feathers, as you know I have never fit that description. Maybe we need to take on the subject of heath care. When a person has cancer and does not have health insurance their is not a program of any kind that will allow them to have chemo without coverage. How many women or men for that matter have been given a death sentence because of that.
Grandma,
Read the article. You'll like it.
"Housewives" are indeed rare, but it was not my choice of terms.
My dear wife has chosen to be a mother and a "housewife." She has not worked a paying job in ten years. She spends her days cleaning up after and caring for three messy children. We live on my income. No, we do not take fancy vacations. I drive a ten-year old car. We live in a modest home in the city. I often shop for clothing at the Salvation Army store (there are really nice clothes there...but ya gotta look for them). We do not have a big stereo system or surround sound television. We do not go out to dinner more than every couple months (having three messy children does contribute to that :-). It does not take two people to make a living. It takes two incomes to be able to take vacations and drive new cars and buy new clothes and have lots of fancy electronics. It comes down to what one values more. My wife would rather stay at home and care for her children. This has not been easy, though. We decided in our first year of marriage (eleven years ago) that she would be a stay-at-home-mother. She soon quit her job so we would not get used to two incomes. By the time our son came a few years later, we had already learned how to live on one income.
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