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October 19, 2005

Caring fulfillment

Catherine Fox, in this month's BOSS magazine reviews Anne Manne's book Motherhood.

I'm saddened by her undoubtably accurate observation:

I'm happy to agree with Manne's conclusion that our obsession with work has gone too far - after all, I co-wrote a book with [BOSS editor] Helen Trinca about this addiction, Better than Sex: How a whole generation got hooked on work, which she cites.

But part of our thesis was that paid work had become the public stage in modern democracies and women wanted a chance to have a role in that forum and ideally to change the workplace too.

It's just a bit convenient to argue that caring work, which is admirable, can be as fulfilling as some of the jobs well educated women now have access to [my emphasis] - it's not just men who use work to justify "absence from family obligations".

It's no doubt a true observation, but it's sad. There must be a way in which we can learn to value caring work while allowing both women and men to find fulfillment in all the work they do.

Posted by chriscurnow at October 19, 2005 9:39 PM

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