Earlier this week, New York Times columnist, Ross Douthat, wrote an op-ed piece about how feminism has made women increasingly unhappy over the last 30 years. Despite being wealthier, healthier and better educated than they were a generation ago, women in post-feminist America aren’t as happy as they used to be. He suggested this may have something to do with the number of women “stuck raising kids alone,” a “depressing” lifestyle that’s much more common among women in the lower socioeconomic class. This hardly explains why so many wealthy women in East Hampton are so miserable, though, Douthat admits. He suggests women’s unhappiness may have something to do with their politics — maybe women “prefer egalitarian, low-risk societies, and the cowboy capitalism of the Reagan era had an anxiety-inducing effect on the American female,” he writes. Um, sure. Or, it could also be the famous “second shift,” Douthat offers, “in which women continue to do the lion’s share of household chores even as they’re handed more and more workplace responsibility.” Hmm, you think? And whose fault is it that women continue doing the lion’s share of household chores? Is it possible that women, who have more options now than ever, are making the wrong choices, creating their own unhappiness?
Keep reading »
