Letters from NYC

But can she cook?

In order to fight off a slight cold, I decided to stay home and rest up, choosing to seek my weekend entertainment and mental stimulation online. That's when I happen to come across Rammer's latest post entitled "Women's Work?" in which he brings to light a very sexist study.

The National Post, published an article yesterday on a recent study by scientists entitled "But can she cook? Women's education and housework productivity.”

The study “found that the greater a women's education, the lower her domestic productivity. In other words, a woman with a degree in engineering is likely to take more time to mop the floor than one who hasn't finished high school.”

I would I love to know what my blog sisters have to say about this!

To say this angered me is to make a huge understatement. Studies like these are so intentionally biased, they cannot be believed.

I’ll just cut to the chase on this one and responsd to these idiots, who waste valuable grant money on frivolous and provocative studies, trying to peg women into antiquated stereotypical square holes is this:

As a former PhD student who interrupted her studies because of motherhood and now finds herself a f/t employee and single mom, I am secure enough and economically comfortable enough NOT to tie my ego or my time into doing housework. I am simply choosing to practice the "theory of comparative advantage" in:

a) hiring a domestic helper to do the major house chores for me on a weekly basis,

b) spending quality time with my son and instilling in him my values, instead of plopping him in front of the tv set or hire someone to keep him occupied while i do house chores,

c) giving myself a small amount of personal time to be creative and pursue intellectual interests, which in turn makes me a happy and productive human being.

I can, and do mop the floor just as “effectively” and as fast as my cleaning lady. Cleaning is not rocket science or engineering, although this study will try to infer this. But more importantly, since when is cleaning the sole prevue of women. Why are successful bachelor's exempt from this study? Why aren’t there studies of how effective or ineffective educated or successful men are at barbecuing, cleaning out the garage, clearing snow from the driveway, etc.

And as for my cooking, dinner guests always rave over it. I know other women at work (some who have several degrees beyond their JD) who are married and have made the same choices as I have and for the same reasons. Motherhood is more important than a spotless toilet. For working women the choice is simple, since we work and we can afford to have help, we take that option and simultaneously help other women economically that might otherwise be unemployed.

Of course, there's never an economic study as to how much we contribute to the economy by hiring domestic helpers, those studies are just not as provocative as a study that tries to demean women's choices. Those studies aim to undermine women by inferring that intelligent women are inept and incapable to handle other areas in their lives and that they neglect important tasks in their home, affecting the lives of everyone else in their household, for the sake of their career. Those studies seek to enslave women to their dust rags, brooms and mops and not to enhance the quality of families and their choices.

I suspect that the guys who worked on this study, were so limited in their own thinking, that they are now sleeping in the dog house and having take out meals alone!

Posted by Michele at October 25, 2004 05:50 PM