book report: the feminine mystique

(link)

well, not a book report because I have no time to read recreational (yet life-changing) books. I read a section last night and it has been stuck in my head until now. The section is titled, "Housewifery expands to fill the time available." I've made jokes (mostly to myself) before about how I find that homework expands to fill the time available. Who knew that it's an actual theory!

"The double deception of the feminine mystique:

1. The more a woman is deprived of function in society at the level of her own ability the more her housework, mother-work, wife-work, will expand - and the more she will resist finishing her housework or mother-work, and be without any function at all. (Evidently human nature also abhors a vacuum, even in women.)

2. The time required to do the housework for any given woman varies inversely with the challenge of the other work to which she is committed. Without any outside interests, a woman is virtually forced to devote her every moment to the trivia of keeping house.

The simple principle that 'Work Expands to Fill the Time Available' was first formulated by the Englishman C. Northcote Parkinson on the basis of his experience with administrative bureaucracy in World War II. Parkinson's Law can easily be reformulated for the American housewife: Housewifery Expands to Fill the Time Available, or Motherhood Expands to Fill the Time Available, or even Sex Expands to Fill the Time Available. This is, without question, the true explanation for the fact that even with all the new labor-saving appliances, the modern American housewife probably spends more time on housework than her grandmother. It is also part of the explanation for our national preoccupation with sex and love, and for the continued baby boom." (p.239-240)

Okay, I'm not so sure about her theory on sex expanding to fill the time available, and that contributing to the baby boom.

But, the other stuff is interesting, and it seems like the theme of the book is that women should be free to be whole human beings and not have all of their energy poured toward their family forever. In the same way, men should be whole human beings and not have all of their energy directed toward work. There should be a balance.

I have witnessed intelligent women who are consumed with the upkeep of their house. The energy that could be afforded toward ministry or hobbies or work is taken up with "the trivia of keeping house." It's sad. I think that our energies should be put toward worthy causes.