Equal Rights

 

After dinner last night my wife and kids and I watched Transformers. Great movie. Usually at night during the week we watch a few episodes of Little House on the Prairie. So being the weekend I said we should watch a movie 1st. It was 10pm when the movie ended so we decided to watch an episode of Little House.

The episode was called “Oleson Versus Oleson”. In the episode a town referendum is scheduled, wherein an affirmative vote will allow women to have equal property ownership rights. The men don’t agree so the women leave their homes to let the men take care of the kids. The idea was for the women to show that their role in the family was just as important as the man’s. The men end up agreeing to sign the referendum and all is wonderful in Hero Township.

The problem I have is that the women thought they would show the men that they couldn’t handle taking care of the home. If they wanted to be fare then they should have taken over the men’s jobs and the men taken over the household duties. Instead they did nothing and the men struggled to do both.

Back in those days and earlier, women had it tough. They were not given equal status with men and were not even allowed to vote. I am happy that today most women enjoy the freedoms that men have. That is not the case in some parts of our world though.

Women are not staying home to raise kids and take care of the home like they used to.

In the 1870′s a US census counted 15% of the workforce as women. World War II allowed for millions of jobs for women. Women stayed in the workforce and eventually were allowed to go to University and pursue all types of jobs including doctors and other professionals. Today women can do all jobs that men do.

Is it wrong for women to work outside of the home?

Absolutely not!

Single men and women can pursue whatever job or career they want to. When they get married and start a family, I believe that someone should be home to raise the kids. If it makes more sense financially for the husband to stay home and the wife to work then go for it!

Men and women are designed differently.  Women have the ability to carry a child. Their bodies produce milk to feed babies. They have hormones that make them naturally nurturing. This isn’t always the case. Some women have more testosterone and some men have more estrogen. We are all different. My main point is that someone should take care of the home and children and traditionally throughout the ages… it has been women.

People should be treated as equals regardless of gender. Men and women’s roles of raising a family and providing for them should not be considered  50 – 50 . It should be 100 – 100.

Figure out what works best for your family and put your all into it. Raising a family takes money. But when the pursuit of money gets in the way of raising children then you can get into problems. We need balance.

We need to work and we need to nurture. Single parents have to do it all. Bravo for them!

So in wrapping up I believe this…

We are all members of the human race. Black, white, yellow, green, woman, men… we are all equals. We deserve each other’s respect and love.

What a different world it would be if we could just follow that…