IT'S STILL THE SAME OLD STORY :

The End of Herstory (Kay S. Hymowitz, Summer 2002, City Journal)

The difficult truth is that the very economy that stirs the imaginations and ambitions of young people-that makes them work 80 hours a week in a start-up business, that makes them want to learn new skills or take on extra duties so that they can get promoted or start their own businesses-is the same economy that will never be especially family-friendly and that often leaves even ambitious working mothers behind. Those who long for the Western European model, with its shorter workweeks, longer vacation times, and generous maternity and paternity leaves, fail to see that those more regulated economies also produce less excitement, less creativity, less opportunity, less money, less of what I've called 'ecstatic capitalism.' Western European workers don't work as hard; they also don't have as many opportunities to create new businesses, develop new skills, and get rich.

Many women seem to understand this reality. A number of those I interviewed said that their crisis-driven jobs made part-time hours either impossible or a sure route
to less interesting assignments. They did not blame their employers; they were quick to admit that if you tell clients that the person handling their case or account won't
be in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you're going to lose them. All of the co-parenting fathers in Levine's book have had to give up not just Saturday golf
but also dreams of writing a novel or of making partner. In such marriages, women are not the only ones who can't have it all. To these couples, everybody wins-Levine's male subjects appear pleased with how close they are to their children; but everybody loses, too.

The more immediate point, however, is that while younger women are struggling with how to balance work and family, they have said good-bye to the radical dreams of
Feminism.

In effect, Feminism declared war on Biology, on the idea that women should have and raise children and will want to. It should come as no surprise that Biology won the war. The wisdom of thousands of years of human tradition could have predicted the outcome for you. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 24, 2002 7:25 PM