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Emily Matchar

Emily Matchar Biography

Journalist

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“[Joan C. Williams] Food has always been a class code, and since Alice Waters, the way to give an upper-middle class act is with food that is fresh and local...The class code of the upper-middle class literally links morality and political virtue with certain forms of high-intensity food-preparation activities.”

ClassFoodMoralityUpper Middle ClassStatus SymbolClass And Virtue
Book:Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity
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“[Leslie Bennett] You have a teenager who desperately wants to separate...If you don't have a career, these New Domesticity types are likely to find themselves standing in the kitchen with all these domestic skills and no outlet for them, no way to earn a living.... [A]t that point your kids are not thanking you for having made the hand-pureed baby food and for giving them homemade cookies. They don't feel you've done them a big favor; they say, "Why didn't she ever grow up and take responsibility for her own life?”

IndependenceWorking WomenHomesteadingStay At Home MothersNew Domesticity
Book:Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity
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“When we combine very real workplace inequalities with these romantic opt-out stories, the idea that "having it all" is a laughable goal becomes enshrined as immutable truth. And when we portray opting out as a simple matter of "choice," we ignore the systematic problems that make combining work and motherhood so difficult.”

WorkFeminismParentingFeministMotherhoodInequalityWorkplaceChildcareHaving It AllWorking Parent
Book:Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity
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“The problem is that the media rarely discusses the real reasons behind why women leave their jobs. We hear a lot about the desire to be closer to the children, the love of crafting and gardening, and making food from scratch. But reasons like lack of maternity leave, lack of affordable day care, lack of job training, and unhappiness with the 24/7 work culture-well, those aren't getting very much airtime.”

WorkFeminismParentingFeministEmploymentWorkingMaternityChildcareWorking Parents
Book:Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity
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“Golden sees parental uninterest in collective solutions as part of a larger “decline in the social contract”… "As a scholar, I'm very disturbed that we have more [media] articles about toxins in the home than the fact that we don’t have universal prenatal care, she says. “We’ve moved from collective concern about infant and child welfare into this very privatized focus on “my child” and this intensive child-rearing.”

LibertarianNarcissismPrivatizationSocial WithdrawalHyperindividualism
Book:Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity
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“Why is it we don’t intervene in the bureaucracy?” asks Chris Bobel, the gender studies scholar, who has noted that many young activists prefer “DIY activism” – making art, changing their own consumer habits, making their own products rather than buying corporate ones. They tell her, “We don’t want to be in bed with the enemy,” she says. “That’s not where change happens. That’s old-school activism. We’re all about DIY’”. Bobel sighs. “A lot of these activists weren’t even registered voters.”

CynicismNarcissismSocial WithdrawalGen YHyperindividualismDiy Activism
Book:Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity
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“Sweden had paternity-leave policies in place for years but found that few men were taking advantage of the benefit. While women felt comfortable taking time off to be with baby, men worried that they would look less dedicated to their careers if they did the same. So the Swedish government implemented a “use it or lose it” policy, mandating that the country’s thirteen-month parental leave cannot only be used by one parent – the other parent must use at least two months of the leave, or both lose those months entirely. Today 85% of Swedish fathers take paternity leave. The policy has helped redefine notions of masculinity and femininity in the already-egalitarian country.”

MasculinitySwedenEgalitarianismPaternity Leave
Book:Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity
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“You have a teenager who desperately wants to separate...If you don't have a career, these New Domesticity types are likely to find themselves standing in the kitchen with all these domestic skills and no outlet for them, no way to earn a living.... [A]t that point your kids are not thanking you for having made the hand-pureed baby food and for giving them homemade cookies. They don't feel you've done them a big favor; they say, "Why didn't she ever grow up and take responsibility for her own life?"”

IfsWayWantGivingFeelsMadeDoneHandsBigsKidsGrowsResponsibilityCareersGrowing UpBabyTypeSkillsStandingFavorsTeenagerKitchenTaking ResponsibilityCookiesOutletsHomemadeDomesticityHomemade Cookies
Book:Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity
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