Hi, my name is Cassie Comeau, and I am responsible for the downfall of society.
I attend college, I’m five months away from earning my bachelor’s degree in print journalism, and I have a job that, while not time consuming, requires me to give up some Fridays and Saturdays, along with the occasional weeknight.
According to an article published Nov. 26 by Fox News columnist Suzanne Venker, I, and women like me, am the reason for the decline of marriage proposals happening in the United States.
Why, you may ask?
For all intents and purposes, I’m a feminist. I believe that men and women are equal and should have the same opportunities to become the person they want to be and live the lives they want. If that makes me “angry” and “defensive,” then so be it. I’d rather be those things than complacent and uneducated.
Unlike men, women have always been the disadvantaged gender in history. They fought for 72 years before earning the right to vote in the Nineteenth Amendment; they had to fight for the right to make choices concerning our own bodies in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade; and they’ve had to fight toward equality in the workplace in the Equal Employment Opportunity Act in 1972. Yet, men and women are still unequal. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, women earned only 77 percent of what men did in 2011.
According to Venker, women’s success has “undermined [men’s] ability to become self-sufficient in the hopes of someday supporting a family. Men want to love women, not compete with them.”
Why should women have to put their aspirations on hold? Why shouldn’t women continue to strive toward bettering themselves in this society? Why should I have to give up my success in order to find “marriageable men?”
The fact is I shouldn’t.
“Women aren’t women anymore,” Venker cites as the reason for men not wanting to marry. Why am I suddenly not defined as a woman just because I’ve decided to leave the sphere of domesticity? Should I start disregarding men as men if they happen to choose to be a stay-at-home dad?
I should hope not.
For the most part, men have never had to change their ways because they have always had rights. Women, on the other hand, have fought for what they have today, and should continue to fight until they have the same options available to them.
I, for one, will continue to work toward earning my degree in May, and will continue to search for my dream job as a book editor. Until I find it, I certainly won’t be sit back and watch only men find success.
Ms. Venker might want to take a look at her own choices (a husband, two kids, and a CAREER: three published books, several appearances in magazines and on television broadcasts, articles on numerous websites and publications) before she starts criticizing ours.
