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Jewish World Review / Oct. 19, 1998 /29 Tishrei, 5759
Cal Thomas
Vanity Fair snubs some of the greatest women
'leaders'
"Does your wife work?'' the inquiring mind wanted to know.
"All women work,'' I replied with my best '90s sensitivity.
"They are compensated in different ways.''
I WAS REMINDED of that little exchange when I saw the story in
November's Vanity Fair magazine titled "America's Most
Influential Women: 200 Legends, Leaders and Trailblazers.''
With few exceptions (and the exceptions are the rich wives of
wealthy men), these are the familiar feminist icons --- women
who have jobs outside the home. No full-time (or even
part-time) stay-at-home moms are featured. Husbands, if any,
are out of sight, and children, if any, are ignored. Feminists
want us to believe these "other women'' are an extinct
species, or that when we encounter them, their lives are being
wasted.
It is a slur on women choosing to stay at home because they
find such work more valuable than "working'' women who
trust their children to day-care providers, nannies or
"preschool'' teachers.
What is influence? One of its definitions is "power exerted
over the minds or behavior of others.'' Are female Cabinet
members, corporate CEOs and political activists the only
women considered to have such power? Does a TV
anchorwoman who reads words written by others from a
TelePrompTer have influence equal to that of a stay-at-home
mother directing the moral, social and intellectual
development of her children?
Gail Evans, a vice president at CNN, tells me she stayed home
for a decade to help rear her children before accepting a job
outside the home. "I learned more about managing a
business carpooling kids in a nine-passenger vehicle than I
would have learned at Harvard Business School,'' she says.
Recently, CNN anchor Donna Kelley relinquished her post in
Atlanta in favor of part-time work so she could spend more
time with her husband in New York City. "Last week I made
turkey vegetable soup on a cold day and bread from scratch,''
she tells me. "My sweetheart came home and said, 'Wow.' ''
Kelley says she can still keep up with what's going on in the
world and will work part time, but that she needs "balance''
in her life, and "family time provides that balance.''
Each year, conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly gives a
"Full-time Homemaker of the Year'' award to a woman who
"is raising her family on a single income earned by her
husband in the traditional family pattern.'' This year's recipient
is Carolyn Graglia of Austin, Tex., a graduate of Cornell
University and Cornell Law School. Graglia gave up a career
as an attorney in a prominent Washington, D.C., law firm to
work full time as a wife and mother to her three children.
Listeners to Dr. Laura Schlessinger's radio program frequently
hear women call to thank her for giving them permission to
quit work outside the home. None speaks "of sacrifice,'' but
rather of the blessings they receive from investing themselves
in the "career'' of building other lives. Laura Quaglio was a
successful magazine editor, but when her daughter was born
she chose to work part time at home. She tells Dr.
Schlessinger: "I wanted to be the one guiding her, playing
with her, bandaging her hurts, sharing her joys. I wanted to
show her how to cut paper snowflakes and paint pumpkins.
And it didn't hurt that I saw this type of family fun going on
right next door.''
Hearing that she had turned down a promotion, Quaglio's
husband said, "Honey, you could've been queen,'' to which
she replied, "I am.''
Schlessinger faults "the pursuit of happiness through
acquisition, constant stimulation and immediate gratification
(which) always fails to deliver'' as the motivation behind so
many women abandoning their young children to people and
influences outside their immediate family. "Teri S.'' wrote
about her decision to stay home with her 18-month-old:
"My son has a mother and my husband has a wife who has
taken the time to slow down to remember what's really
important in life: time -- not money -- spent.''
Why aren't such people included on a long list of influential
women? It is because they are not in charge of the culture. It
is because feminism has decreed that the only women who
matter are those employed and working outside the home.
In the Vanity Fair article, women who represent "the
strongest voices for some of the nation's most pressing issues''
are all socially liberal: the American Civil Liberties Union's
Nadine Strossen, National Organization for Women's Patricia
Ireland, National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action
League's Kate Michelman, Planned Parenthood's Gloria Feldt
and so on. There isn't a conservative, "traditional'' woman in
the bunch. The stay-at-home moms probably won't notice.
They're too busy being influential. They don't have time to
read about their sisters who only think they
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