 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|||||||
 |
|
What gap are they talking about? They are talking about women becoming more addicted to drugs than ever before. They say we are not only catching up with the men, but we are surpassing them.
I'm not surprised. There are a lot of reasons. I believe I could write a book on the great expectations of women.
I will start with a figurative mother, Rosie the Riveter. During World War II, she was a symbol of all the women doing assembly work. Before Rosie came along, most younger women dropped out of the work force when they married. But Rosie was married and still working. She was the beginning of the transformation of the American ways of life that changed this society socially, psychologically and economically.
Twenty-five million women followed Rosie into the labor force in the three decades after World War II. Fifteen million of the total increase was women no one expected to go to work. Baby boomers are Rosie's daughters.
Things started changing when women went to work. Children were raised differently. Families were eating out more often. There were more divorces.
Stores started staying open later. Neighborhood friends were replaced by office friends. Magazines were coming out with names like Working Women and Working Mother. Women started reporting stress-related health problems.
Over the years, women's criminal activity has increased. The population for female prisoners doubled from 44,065 in 1990 to 99,336 in 2001. They are mainly incarcerated for drug-related and property crimes.
Now, these statistic people act as if the increase in women's drug abuse just happened!
We were injected into the work field (via Rosie) mainly out of economic necessity. We were not only equally participating in earning the living, but were also having and raising children, trying to create a home and maintain our role as Susie Homemaker as visions of Barbie danced through our heads.
As I watched a woman on television being interviewed, I heard anguish in her voice and saw complete dismay in her eyes when she said, "As a woman, I can't seem to measure up!" Who could?
I could get really angry and upset over all this. Liberation seems to have bought us more bondage than liberty. And yet, to keep Mom in the kitchen would have deprived the world of a lot of talent and valuable contributions.
I'm also flustered with the pressures women have instead of solutions. We seem to be getting a lot of negative reports, including being blamed for raising a whole generation of mixed up kids.
I'm not excusing the problems of addictions. I'm trying to state a possible cause and effect. It's really plain and simple: We need help. We still do 75 percent of all the housework, cooking, child raising, etc., regardless of how many hours we devote to our other job. We are also expected to maintain our youthful appearance, perfect figure and a sweet spirit. Dare we become frustrated? Let's really close the gender gap — let's enlist our men to help us. Most of them have never had all of these burdens at once. We've always been there to help them. I say to them, "Enough of this having your cake and eating it too!" Or is it having your Rosie, Barbie and Susie, too?
Now that I've spoken to the men, I have something to say to the women. We have to start reaching out to someone instead of something. Drugs such as alcohol and tranquilizers are only temporary painkillers, not cures.
You can't just expect help; you have to ask for it. And if you don't get it, ask for it again.
And last but not least, as the beat goes on with women and men working together, the most important thing for both genders to realize is the fact that we are our children's examples.
BEVERLY LONG is a regular columnist for Savvy, P.O. Box 65418, Lubbock, TX 79464.
© 2003 LubbockOnline Network |
|
|
||||||||
