05 April 2011

Wolfish wifehood

Modern women defend their office with all the fierceness of domesticity. They fight for desk and typewriter as for hearth and home, and develop a sort of wolfish wifehood on behalf of the invisible head of the firm. That is why they do office work so well; and that is why they ought not to do it.

G.K Chesterton, "The Emancipation of Domesticity," Brave New Family

8 comments:

Leah said...

In other words, women are supposed to be wolfishly wifely - just to the proper recipient! We should, rightly, be more wholesomely loyal and proud of being a wife and mother than a secretary.

G.K.C. also says - "...much of the recent trouble about women has arisen from the fact that they transfer to things of doubt and reason that sacred stubbornness only proper to the primary things which a woman was set to guard. One's own children, one's own altar..."

SAHM I Am said...

I used to think that many women were specifically gifted for wifehood, some of those were gifted for mommyhood, and even less were gifted for SAHM-hood. Now I wonder if the percentages are indeed much larger, but the "I choose to work" women (as opposed to those who need to) don't realize their "work skills" are just as useful in the home.

Leah said...

I just read that chapter this week in "What's Wrong With the World."

Rebekah said...

SAHM, that may even be right, but it doesn't excuse any of us from our responsibilities. The trouble with caring for children is that very nearly anyone can do it, which is precisely why so few people want to make a real habit of it.

Leahs, is that guy great or what? In thinking about this particular quote, I was reminded how women feel a special need to "help people" and "make a difference" and "do things that matter." Men are able to take job because it pays and interests them, and to be upfront about that motivation. Women have to make a virtue out of it. Regardless of what they are doing, most of them will try to convince themselves that is important and beneficial. We don't do well with competing loyalties.

Katy said...

So this is why all the young professional women in my husband's young professionals group work for non-profits. Because, you know, non-profits are inherently virtuous.

Elizabeth said...

Rebekah, your comment to Leah made me think of Jesus' warning, "A man (or woman, in this case) cannot serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other". Granted, Jesus follows this up with "You cannot serve both God and money", but can we also apply this verse to this quote of Chesterton? And really, in a way, isn't this what Jesus is saying too? We women especially pour ourselves into that one cause... Or am I misapplying Scripture??

I've really got to get my hands on some Chesterton...

T Sherman said...

"We don't do well with competing loyalties."

Exactly! This is why I quit teaching. There was nothing logical about my emotional ties to my job, my responsibilities, and my coworkers, but I felt as though I had two families. No matter what I did, I felt guilty that I was choosing one family over the other. Golly, I still feel that way when I head over for choir and handbells--a mere two hours of my week--but they need me!!

Leah said...

I hate it when the computer assumes I'm my husband. Why can't it just sense that a woman is typing and not a man? Above comment is actually from me.