Women's rights
Edward Edmonds
Oh yeah, we just celebrated our 4 year Anniversary. She's a great
woman, I mean seriously how many women would let their husbands quit
their job to chase a silly dream like running... forging the way for
women's equality...
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This is a little off the topic of running, but I think it's an
interesting phenomena to briefly discuss.
I find it interesting how in this day and age it's perfectly
acceptable for a man to work and for a woman to be a housewife (which
I personally feel is very honorable), but it's largely frowned upon
for a man to be a houseman and for a woman to work.
For example it is well known at my wife's work that I don't have a job
and that my life centers around running, our arrangement is that I
have all the time I need to train, but in addition to that I cook the
meals, clean the house, do the laundry, do the handy work, etc.,
pretty much everything as housewife would do during a day. It's
pretty much reversed roles.
What's interesting is that sometimes my wife will discuss with the
other girls at work how that all works out, they always seem very
curious about it for some reason and not in a nice way either, in fact
sometimes they give her a hard time about it. She tries to explain to
them that it's no different then a woman staying home and the husband
working but for some reason they can't compute that. For some reason
because I'm afforded the ability to do what I love, that's not
considered work, and while I'm not the type of person to give two
toots about it, a lot of people especially if it was a woman in my
position would be offended by such comments. But once you reverse the
roles back to normal all of the sudden everything is okay.
I've talked to a lot of guys and they say they'd switch places with me
in a heart beat but that their wives would never put up with it. And
I always say to myself but up with what? Aren't the women always
complaining about equal rights and opportunity? In my view reversing
roles is a great foundation to help level the field out and get past
this huge issue of equality, women want to be CEO's and President's
but when it comes to the simple things like a woman bringing in the
bacon and the man staying home, most women I find throw a fit about
it, I just don't get that, it's completely backwards. Or if they did
allow it they'd expect their husbands to wait hand and foot on them
like slaves.
Oh well, I know not all women feel that way, obviously my wife
doesn't, she feels it's a great opportunity to set an example for
women around her, obviously I'm very happy to agree with that because
yes I do get to chase some dreams, but outside of that I think it
really is a good way to change things for the better.
What's even more interesting is the reaction the girls give when I
visit my wife at work which is usually weekly, I'll drop by have lunch
or just sit and hang out or even sometimes I'll just sit at her desk
and read for a while. I get some strange looks sometimes, obviously
more then likely they are probably jealous, that doesn't take a genius
to figure out, and that's fine, they can be jealous doesn't break my
heart after all if they selected a douche husband who's fault is that,
certainly not mine, what's sad though is that they can't separate
their emotions from the issue of equality.
I'm not saying that husbands all around the globe who don't work need
to visit their wives at work that's just a personal thing that I like
to do, plus you have to take into consideration how many housewives
come visit their husbands at work or have lunch with them, that's more
rare then common.
But what I am saying is that it really is unfortunate that a lot of
women (not all) want equal rights high positions of power, but are
still in the old traditional mode of thinking. Sorry but not much
progress is going to be made in true equality until people learn to
start thinking differently.
What do ya'll think?
Edward
u j
Tim Downie
"Edward Edmonds" <edward....@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:6b006c75-5909-4460...@k4g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...
>
> What do ya'll think?
> Edward
I think the only thing that matters is what you and your wife think. Are
you both happy with your roles?
I've been a househusband since my second daughter was born. I've cooked,
cleaned, changed nappies, fed the, bathed them, clothed them, taken them to
swimming lessons, ballet classes, schools & universities etc. In all that
time I've been pretty happy with my role. I may not have been a wage earner
but I was a wage "enabler". Now that we're "empty nesters" I do wish that I
could be the major breadwinner. I guess it's a male ego thing.
Whilst running has given me a way to define myself, I could never rely on
*just* running to define my role in life. I regard running as an indulgent
hobby compared to doing a real wage earning job. Of course if I had the
talent, diligence, was 35 years younger and on course to becoming a "pro"
then I would be happier with being a non-earner for a period. ;-)
Anyhow, in short, as I said at the start, the only people you need to
justify your choices to are yourselves. I'f you're happy with them then
fine. If you're asking questions here though, does that suggest that you
have some doubts?
Tim
Edward Edmonds
wrote:
> "Edward Edmonds" <edward.edmo...@gmail.com> wrote in message
No doubts, I'm a Anthropology major, just plain curious.
pithydoug
Did you just return from watching the movie "Clan of the Cave
bears?" :)
-D
anders
> No doubts, I'm a Anthropology major, just plain curious.
Well, in that case I might tell you that in this country, for
instance, a woman who chooses to stay at home after her maternity
leave would probably feel obliged to defend her decision to her
working peers and a housewife who doesn't have small children to look
after would certainly be frowned upon. Although men taking their
share of parental leave are increasingly common, but while stay-at-
home dads aren't unheard of they are still very much an exception.
My wife has always been the bigger earner in the family and it was
briefly discussed that I could take a sabbatical (as an alternative to
having an au-pair and hiring occasional outside help) but I'm afraid
that equality among sexes here means that she would be unwilling to be
my meal ticket just to let my pursue what might be a worthy dream but
would still be a mere hobby in the eyes of the society - unless, of
course, I could carry my own weight by some sort of private income or
savings.
Anders
PS I believe Arthur would prefer a complete training cycle repeated
every six months or so to extending the basic training phase and I
think he would also argue that the racing phase also plays a crucial
part in developing a runner from season to season.
PPS I understand that in practice his runners (or those trained by
coaches who adopted his principles) seldom did more than three hill
sessions each week and the resistance phase was not drawn out; the
gains were minimal and did not outweigh the injury risks.