The Problem Is That Women’s Choices “All Suck”

Over at the Huffington Post (here), Marcus Buckingham explains reports of (white) women’s declining happiness (previously noted by Ann here and here, for example).  He says, “The hard-won rights, opportunities, and advantages were supposed to have netted women more than just another burdensome role to play — ‘you at work.'”    A column in today’s Double X takes issue (here) with Buckingham (and Maureen Dowd’s related NY Times column):

Women are in the workforce in greater numbers, and men do more of the housework. But things haven’t changed nearly enough. It turns out, the problem isn’t that we have too many options:it’s that they all suck. Without real accommodations for working women, the choices are all still pretty disappointing. It may feel as if we should be done with”work-life issues”:the term itself sounds so ’90s, evoking upbeat, pre-BlackBerry workshops. But we still haven’t fully confronted, let alone resolved, the unpleasantness of trying to do too much at once.

Let’s also not forget that Mr. Buckingham has a book to hawk, too.  Some women may have come to the conclusion that they don’t need a man to make them happy, but the marketing for Mr. Buckingham’s Find Your Strongest Life assumes that we all need a man to explain why we’re unhappy.

Blech.

-Bridget Crawford