Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    
    If one truly feels that one's life is of little value, the choice
    is to either change it or go under.  No one else can take on that
    responsibility.
    
    As to the value of working in the home for no recompense:  There's
    a great deal of value in it. I would not choose it for many reasons,
    but none of them include the concept that such work is valueless.
    
    This woman apparently does not value what she does with her life.
    Taking control of her life and doing soething she _does_ value is
    a better course than bitterly sitting on her duff.
    
      Ann
    
    

    In commenting on this article, we should keep in mind that
    Art Buchwald makes his living by being nasty about everyone
    in sight.  
    
    --bonnie

    Remember the base note is supposed to be a humor column.
    
    Bonnie

    I think that Art Buchwald is just trying to call attention to the
    fact that society has not valued the housewife.  This woman feels
    this way because nobody else seems to value what she does with her
    life.  You know, when somebody asks you, "What do you do?" you feel
    as though they expect to hear doctor, lawyer, VP of marketing or
    at least engineer.  Even if you do feel good about your own life
    it can be embarrassing (or so I imagine) to say housewife and have
    people act like you do nothing worthwhile.  I sometimes feel the
    same dread and embarrassment at having to say - secretary.
    
    Lorna
    

    Lorna,
    
    When I was a secretary, I came to hate the question "What do you
    do?" After I'd answer, people would often get a look of disgust
    on their faces, and they'd say "I see. Well, nice chatting with
    you." It apparently didn't occur to them that I could have an
    interesting life (or job) if that was all I did.
    
    Liz

    I think Buchwald often uses humor to make a point with people who
    would *never* read an article entitled "Politically Correct Feminist
    Treatise on the Demeaning Nature of Housework as Reflected in the
    Self-Image of the College-Educated Homemaker".
    
    

How about:

"What do you do?"

"I'm a household manager."

Sounds more impressive and I think it is more accurate.

              Carol

    While I was reading .0, I kept thinking, "Gee, I do all those things
    AND hold down a 50+ hour a week job - no wonder I get tired out
    sometimes!"  I must say, I'd be kinda bored, too, if things like
    getting the car fixed and finding a sump pump were the ONLY things
    I did. :-)

    not household manager - domestic engineer...
    
    

    What is more beautiful than the word "homemaker?"  Anyone today
    who makes a house a "home" should be very proud of it.  Aren't we
    getting too hung up on terminology these days?  

    The attempt to coin a term for the person who runs a household has
    a long history in English.  "Home economist" was one from the last
    century; before that there was the "domestic economy". 
    
    Come to think of it, "household engineer" is pretty much what the
    compound "huswif" meant in old English -- one whose profession is
    running the household [compare with "alewif", one whose profession
    is ale]. 

    --bonnie

       When my wife saw the "household engineer" entry she laughed - she
       said that since I am a Software Maintainability Engineer, perhaps
       she is a Household Maintainability Engineer.

       /. Ian .\ and /. Ann .\

    
    A friend of mine recently made a big job change, and I really liked
    the way she wrote her resume.  She listed the titles of the jobs she had
    held and then listed the responsibilities for each job.  My friend
    had two children, and she left the "work force" until the youngest was in
    school.  For that job she put:
    
    Housewife and Mother 
     responsibilities too numerous to list
                                          
    I thought that was really neat, and everyone who interviewed her
    liked it, too.
                  
    Justine
                          

         A woman at San Jose State University recently had her book
    about the decline and fall of the housewife published.  She studied
    how the attitude towards the housewife has changed in the last 100,
    or 200 years.  She had some interesting ideas about how and why
    advertising has changed our view of the housewife.  I only read
    an article about the author and her book in the San Jose Mercury,
    so unfortunately I can't supply the title or author.
    
    ASP

    	I used my experiences as a mother/housewife for a major paper
    	in a college Organizational Behavior course.  We had to do
    	a paper on how we would see ourselves as a manager from the
    	perspective of the course.  I had had only the career of
    	mother/housewife as a steady track at that point so approached
    	it from that viewpoint.  I titled the paper "Motherhood as
    	a Management Role" and presented all the stages in career
    	tracking and likened them to the various stages of motherhood.
    	I got to use the paper again for a major paper in an Introduction
    	to Professional Writing course later.  Both times the professor
    	(both males in the 40 year old range) rated my paper with an
    	A and made delightful comments.  The Org Behavior professor
    	had never had the assignment approached that way before.  I
    	even used my kids resumes as Design Projects and gave their
    	start dates as their birth dates (problably should have used
    	the conception dates to be correct)!  This was definitely a
    	case of write what you know!
    
    	justme....jacqui
    
    	ps....am now in a *real* career with a neat boss!  Started 7/18/88.

    So, Jacqui, how about reprinting it here ?

    
    
    	re:  .17
    
    	I have it on a floppy.....of course I could run copies for
    	those of you requesting it via Vaxmail.   All I have to do
    	now is find the niche where I stashed it!!!   I am on 
    	SCOMAN::GARDNER.
    
    	re:  .16
    
    	Thanks for the unabashed enthusiasm in your comment on my 
    	entry!
    
    
    	I have been busy here at HLO2 getting adjusted to being a
    	DECie and not "just a temp", so please pardon the lateness
    	of this reply.  
    
    	justme....jacqui
    
    

    < Note 72.9 by LEZAH::BOBBITT >
	not household manager - domestic engineer...

    But these are the parallel job titles depending on if you're technical
    track or management track.