Women in America

We’ve all heard that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Boys/men have the good old boys clubs while women have cat fights. In 2011, I heard Attorney Lisa Bloom, author of ‘Think, Straight talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World’ says 25% of young women would rather win the next America’s Top Model than the Nobel Peace Prize. She also said women are outdoing men but 20% more women read gossip magazines than newspapers and more women know the names of the Kardashians than the wars we’re in. She said we’re disconnected from what matters. The media is partially at fault thinking that woman don’t want to hear the real news; they want stories about plastic surgery and celebrities. She said women are too tired because the chores aren’t shared and it’s time to clean less and be more involved in the community. Chores should be shared, no cleaning the toilet while the man watches the game. I don’t know about you but I think she somewhat has a point. When men were the bread winners, women were housewives; that was the 50/50 arrangement in the relationship. As such, men came home, had a beer and watched a game. Men also used to fix things and take out the garbage; today they don’t fix flat tires (call AAA) and many things are disposable so they’re dumped instead of repaired. Now that women work, the household chores do need to be divided. In 2011 medical experts said this could be the first generation of women who do not outlive their male counterparts by 5–7 years. They worry about family (including parents), their marriage, and their jobs; other researchers said for every 10 minutes you’re in the car (commuting) your happiness goes down. USA Today’s Gail Sheehy said they worked with 100,000 women to find what makes them happy: Healthways Science and Well-Being Research said having a good friend at work and exercising; Georgetown School of Law said having a flexible work schedule. Dr. Holly Thacker, Cleveland Clinic’s Director of Specialized  Women’s Health, said women need to learn to take care of themselves first – like putting on the oxygen mask in an airplane before attending to the child. With all this said in 2011 on March 11, 2012 ABC News reported that Margaret Thatcher once said – if you want something said ask a man; if you want something done ask a woman and a lot of women still feel this way. But a Real Simple magazine survey came out saying most men do want to help but 28% of women don’t delegate because they don’t feel it will be done right and 45% of women said they won’t pay to outsource the house cleaning even if they could. Per the Families and Work Institute 50% of women refuse to take an hour break unless all the chores on their list are done. However women’s Cortisol levels (high levels create health problems) plummeted when spouses helped and women who schedule (and do) take time off whether or not the chores are done are happier. Bottom line is take time off.   

To prove that women will do what it takes to help out the family, on December 11, 2011 it was reported that women have taken to being guinea pigs for product test trials to make about $1000 a week; one woman used to have to choose between food and her diabetes medicine but because of the trials her medication is paid for. And, on December 19, 2011 it was reported that after applying at department stores, fast food restaurants and more, Moms are making thousands of dollars by being phone sex operators; their numbers have grown 400% in 18 months (work at home, flexible hours, and good pay – sometimes up to $1,000 a day). The women don’t like it but feel they need to do it to support their families. The companies they work for are reputable, protect them as much as they can, direct deposit money or pay in gift cards and some provide benefits. Although husbands are accepting of their wives new professions other women are not.

Women seem to become more like men as they’re committing more crimes; they’re assaulting boys, robbing, and operating baby rings (reports last year out of California [CA] and Texas [TX]). A CA woman was arrested after an investigation found that her baby died from burns suffered in a microwave; November 17 a Delaware mother was charged with letting her 9 year old son drive to school (March 14 a Nebraska mother used her 11 year as a designated driver); a Missouri woman admitted to beating her 13 month old son to death because he wouldn’t stop crying; on January 13, 2012 a TX woman killed her husband while her 4 year old daughter was in the house and concocted a story to say someone else did it; February 8 the Duggar family with a reality show (19 kids and counting) encountered an extortion plot by an Iowa woman; March 8 it was reported that a Michigan woman won $1 million in the lottery and continued to collect welfare (lawmakers are closing loopholes).

Women need to stop helping boyfriends or husbands to commit crimes or injure women and children. On January 4, 2012 the modern day Bonnie & Clyde suspected of killing an elderly Utah couple and shooting a Nevada woman when trying to carjack her car were found (a Nevada rancher surveying cattle from the air led police to them); January 19 a CA woman and her son were arrested for hiring a hit man to kill the son’s wife. Women complain about men but they rarely support each other-they need to help men get off any attitude or behavior that belittles women (January 12 per Rader Programs models of the 1990s weighed 8% less than the average American woman, today they weigh 23% less; they were wearing size 4–6 and would be considered plus sizes today). Women shouldn’t give up the kindness that used to make them better than men. Although there are many caring and intelligent women as a general population we’re a far cry from the caring beings of long ago.