Feminists hate women

Tim Stanley, the Telegraph blogger and historian of the USA, reports on the latest spat of the US Presidential race.

The controversy was started by Hilary Rosen when she opined on TV that Ann Romney – the housewife spouse of Mitt Romney – “has actually never worked a day in her life.” She went on to say, “She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, and why we worry about their future.” In case you’re wondering, Hilary Rosen describes herself as a “political consultant” – so, presumably, she’s never worked a day in her life, either.

This is par for the course: feminists have always has a special hatred of housewives. The possibility of a career outside the marketplace for women makes it impossible for feminists to achieve their goal of numerical equality for women in the marketplace. Even if only some women, for some of the time, stay at home to look after children, then men will outnumber women in business. Women must therefore not be allowed to choose houswifery as a career. The most characteristic, the most feminine, and in many ways the most interesting, wide-ranging, and autonomous type of work for women should, therefore, be closed to them. Being a housewife is primarily about household management and eduction. The claim that this is demeaning and fit only for the mentally retarded is an attempt to make something true by asserting it. The idea that it isn't 'work' is just bizarre. The tragedy is that the vitriol poured on housewives by feminists has been so effective that many young women have an allergic reaction to the idea of being one: they think they would be denigrated, and they have a point.

In this context, there is a role for a counter-cultural counter-offensive: An Oppressed Catholic Woman Shops for Bras. This isn't the same issue, but a closely related one: the denigration of women who have large families. This happens in the streets of our cities every day. Every woman who ventures out with three or more children risks rude comments from complete strangers. Here's someone who's taken the battle to the enemy; perhaps inevitably, she lives in Ave Maria in Florida, the town of Ave Maria University. Reading this made my day, and I hadn't even had breakfast. H-T to Caroline Farrow.