Blog 8...

I'm very confused what happened because I thought I posted this yesterday but I guess my computer did not follow through with posting...? Oh well here lies Blog 8...

In many of the articles I read online they outline that opting out is just not always an option. Since Belkin showed this idea through her very successful friends, she fails to show that not all women have the luxury of opting out of the workplace. May it be they aren't financially able or perhaps they are a single mother who is the soul income provider for her children. This idea is just not an option.

Another idea against opting out is putting too much reliance on the male figure in the household. What if there is divorce? What if the spouse dies? That luxury the woman once had is gone in a flash and they are now forced to re-enter a very competitive workplace that has changed drastically since they first left. An author on the Mothersmovement.org points out that Belkins friends may find themselves facing displaced homemakers' syndrome. The woman writing the response is a recently divorced free-lance writer. Although she claims she will be more well off then many others in her situation, she struggles with the fact that she decided to opt-out herself and now she is facing the harsh concequences of her decisions. She wishes she would have listened to her advisors when they said "only you can take care of yourself, don't left anyone else fill that position." When her husband was financially stable to take care of her, she opted-out and now she wants to warn others of the problems that can occur with this decision. With divorce rates rising, the idea of opting-out is a scary one. Although no one goes into a marriage expecting a divorce, I think that women should arm themselves with the possibility.

I come from a family with divorced parents. My mother has always worked her entire life so when this unfortunate circumstance took place, she did not have to worry about how to take care of me on her own. Although both my mother and father are active in taking care of me, my mother's job was just as financially stable to keep us from changing our normal lifestyles. She has forever drilled into me that I need to be responsible for myself. I don't need a man to give me everything and I should NEVER rely on one completely. Obviously my mother did not go into the marriage with my father expecting the worst but since she came from a divorced family herself, she knew how vital it was to support yourself financially no matter how much money your spouse makes.