Declaring the "Undeclared" War
Declaring the "Undeclared" War
Susan Faludi speaks of war. She speaks of the victims being chained against achieving dreams of freedom. She speaks of a silent war that brews beneath the surface of society; that slowly erodes the will to overcome. In her excerpt "The Undeclared War on Women", Faludi declares the thus far "undeclared"; that women have strived for equality, but have only achieved it at a meager level as a result of lacking support. She refers to society's lack of encouragement, and often counterproductive responses as "backlash." Women are not unhappy because they want more than equality; they are unhappy because society has ways of making them regret even asking for it by giving little government support (e.g. child care, rape laws, financial aid for education, etc.), failing to enforce equal rights laws and creating a media institution that shows their "independent" status as the reason for emotional instability and a weaker family environment. The vicious combination of deteriorating self-confidence and challenging their maternal abilities manifest an on-going battle to reinforce the proverbial glass ceiling women face today.
Such accusations from society are ludicrous; millions of women maintain a balance between work and nurturing their family, but they do so with difficulty. However, with birth rates only increasing annually, it is difficult to prove that working women are not doing their part as mothers. Unfortunately, women have hardly advanced in their fight for equality since "Backlash" was published. Though federal law now requires that all women receive at least eight weeks of maternity leave , mothers are still plagued by the problems of child care affordability. The article points out that the availability of affordable child care for the average working in women is fairly scarce. In 1993, it cost an average of $215-$329 a month to put one preschool-age child into child care. With the need for more child care facilities rising,
Susan Faludi speaks of war. She speaks of the victims being chained against achieving dreams of freedom. She speaks of a silent war that brews beneath the surface of society; that slowly erodes the will to overcome. In her excerpt "The Undeclared War on Women", Faludi declares the thus far "undeclared"; that women have strived for equality, but have only achieved it at a meager level as a result of lacking support. She refers to society's lack of encouragement, and often counterproductive responses as "backlash." Women are not unhappy because they want more than equality; they are unhappy because society has ways of making them regret even asking for it by giving little government support (e.g. child care, rape laws, financial aid for education, etc.), failing to enforce equal rights laws and creating a media institution that shows their "independent" status as the reason for emotional instability and a weaker family environment. The vicious combination of deteriorating self-confidence and challenging their maternal abilities manifest an on-going battle to reinforce the proverbial glass ceiling women face today.
Such accusations from society are ludicrous; millions of women maintain a balance between work and nurturing their family, but they do so with difficulty. However, with birth rates only increasing annually, it is difficult to prove that working women are not doing their part as mothers. Unfortunately, women have hardly advanced in their fight for equality since "Backlash" was published. Though federal law now requires that all women receive at least eight weeks of maternity leave , mothers are still plagued by the problems of child care affordability. The article points out that the availability of affordable child care for the average working in women is fairly scarce. In 1993, it cost an average of $215-$329 a month to put one preschool-age child into child care. With the need for more child care facilities rising,