In the 1970s one of my sisters-in-law mounted a cruel campaign to bring my mom up to feminist standards--lobbing The Feminine Mystique at her and criticizing the family-oriented path she was on. Whether she “chose” that path can well be debated. But my mom was a genius at loving and providing, and my family would have been bereft without her beautiful contributions. So when I read this line--“All these skills add up to a human of enormous potential”--I thought: maybe the contribution of a great mother to her family IS potential realized, and more important than the one the profit-focused CEO makes? Motherhood shouldn’t be viewed as a wasted life or a missed opportunity. Maybe, for some women, it’s the highest calling.
Wow, yes, when you think about it, her decision to enroll her kids in English medium schools meant they got a leg up early on….. Thank you, Peter, for the insights!!! This book is a must-read. You will be thinking about it for a long time….
Loved this write up Kalpana! Motherhood is a vast topic and the nurturing aspect is portrayed in many ways throughout a mom's life. It is a role that everyone takes on with little training and learns to play and change every step of the way. For those of us, who won't read the book your article is possibly the closest we can get to it. Thank you for that!
What a powerful premise, Kalpana. I'm intrigued by the book, and have already placed an order on Amazon. I agree that the strength we perceive as required from a feministic POV, and lacking in mothers of a certain generation might not be the tools they leveraged to fight whatever demons haunted them in their younger years - they might have had more subtle backbone building mechanisms, including emotional blackmail, that might not be in the liberal feminist playbooks we recognize today. Of course, such tactics have long-lasting repercussions, but I'm glad there's a book that ventures to go there. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to reading Mai.
In the 1970s one of my sisters-in-law mounted a cruel campaign to bring my mom up to feminist standards--lobbing The Feminine Mystique at her and criticizing the family-oriented path she was on. Whether she “chose” that path can well be debated. But my mom was a genius at loving and providing, and my family would have been bereft without her beautiful contributions. So when I read this line--“All these skills add up to a human of enormous potential”--I thought: maybe the contribution of a great mother to her family IS potential realized, and more important than the one the profit-focused CEO makes? Motherhood shouldn’t be viewed as a wasted life or a missed opportunity. Maybe, for some women, it’s the highest calling.
Wow, yes, when you think about it, her decision to enroll her kids in English medium schools meant they got a leg up early on….. Thank you, Peter, for the insights!!! This book is a must-read. You will be thinking about it for a long time….
Loved this write up Kalpana! Motherhood is a vast topic and the nurturing aspect is portrayed in many ways throughout a mom's life. It is a role that everyone takes on with little training and learns to play and change every step of the way. For those of us, who won't read the book your article is possibly the closest we can get to it. Thank you for that!
Masterpiece Kal! Would love to read this book
What a powerful premise, Kalpana. I'm intrigued by the book, and have already placed an order on Amazon. I agree that the strength we perceive as required from a feministic POV, and lacking in mothers of a certain generation might not be the tools they leveraged to fight whatever demons haunted them in their younger years - they might have had more subtle backbone building mechanisms, including emotional blackmail, that might not be in the liberal feminist playbooks we recognize today. Of course, such tactics have long-lasting repercussions, but I'm glad there's a book that ventures to go there. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to reading Mai.
Good