The anti-feminists knew and they were right.
It is so important to read history and old books to realize that many of our ancestors were far wiser and more insightful than we even might already think they were. Here are a few of my reflections on an anti-suffragette book I have been reading recently.
On Feminist Mental Load
Why do so many women report record levels of burnout?
There used to be a wider community of women to share the domestic load together.
“There is, among others, this fundamental difference between the business life of men and women. For men who pursue occupations outside the home, there are women to manage that home. For women who pursue occupations outside the home, there are, not men, but other women, to manage the home. The final domestic care of the world must come upon women. The final attention to social life must come upon women. In behalf of the women who are constrained, or who choose, to sacrifice their share in this part of the world’s necessary work, some other women must do double duty. That this rule has seeming exceptions does not make it less the universal rule.”
Helen Kendrick Johnson, 1894, Woman and the Republic
I have heard countless young mothers say that staying at home feels isolating, and many go back to work just to avoid this feeling. Many also lament how their mums, sisters or friends are working so it is harder to share the load.
Isn’t it fascinating that this 19th century woman Helen Johnson, predicted this would be exactly one of the problems women faced because of the advent of feminism?
Our instinct today is to mock feminists who complain about “mental load”, but they are giving voice to a deeper problem: the community of women has been severely broken, and it makes life harder. Women are expected to do way, way more in modern society in most households, and it burns them and their relationships out in massive numbers.
The solution? The complete unwinding of feminism.....
I have been finding Woman and the Republic an insightful read. Some of the specific information is out of date, for instance statistics about who works in which fields and information like that is largely out of date. But the sentiment of the book which calls into question the entire legitimacy of the feminist movement is spot on.
We had wise ancestors who predicted the insanity we face today. If only they had been listened. In some ways Helen Kendrick Johnson is a bit like Cassandra, and we all know how that ended up.
