September 22, 2007
if mummy doesn't work but slogs
I think the drawing works well on the page, and with the article. Click to see it a bit bigger, and click to see it a lot bigger. My life is not unlike the life of the Slummy Mummy. I was never a war correspondent, but I am a stay-at-home-mum, I even illustrate kid's books like she does. A feminist is quoted in the article, very disapproving of this novel. I don't know, this topic never seems to stop stirring emotions. Have I done wrong never to put my kids in childcare to earn money? Am I still mistaken by not even generating a fifth of our family income? To the rescue! I am not financially independent! Michiel can never leave me without having to pay a shit load of alimony! But then I find myself in the same luxurious position as Slummy Mummy. Both of us have husbands that make enough to provide for a family. Most husbands don't. The eternal question "why don't Dutch women work as much as women in other countries" comes up again. Well duh, maybe the salaries in Holland aren't quite as bad yet. Michiel just spent last night comforting a desperate friend. Working nightmare shifts making any socializing impossible, and not even making enough money to get by even with a working partner and without kids. Did feminism do that for us? Did feminism spoil employers into believing they can get away with paying less than half what a person needs, because couples live on double incomes?
Posted by eliane at September 22, 2007 01:21 PMYes, yes and yes. I am so grateful we have been able to live on one income, first in Canada (mine) and now here (Peter's). It will be tighter once we have our own house (in January! Did I tell you yet?), but at least we managed to get (and will be able to pay) the mortgage on one salary. I like my freelance work, and I will probably look for a parttime teaching job once we move, but I'm ever so glad we have the flexibility to do it this way. To me, feminism is about the freedom to make your own choices.
Posted by: Bianca at September 22, 2007 03:50 PMAny chance to read the article online without a subscription?
Posted by: Bianca at September 22, 2007 03:52 PMIk vind je tekeningen altijd prachtig. Zo ook deze; ik zie er zoveel kleine details in. O.a de trip-trap, de ikea bank, de jaren 70 tafel, er is zoveel om naar te kijken. Geweldig, ik zou willen dat ik het kon. (Ik lees ook je stukjes hoor....)
Posted by: saskia at September 23, 2007 01:21 AMIk vind je tekeningen altijd prachtig. Zo ook deze; ik zie er zoveel kleine details in. O.a de trip-trap, de ikea bank, de jaren 70 tafel, er is zoveel om naar te kijken. Geweldig, ik zou willen dat ik het kon. (Ik lees ook je stukjes hoor....)
Posted by: saskia at September 23, 2007 01:21 AMik vind vooral michiel geemancipeerd.
Posted by: jan at September 23, 2007 12:28 PMIk heb het niet zo met feminisme. Ik moet wel zeggen dat ik enorm content ben dat ik nu uiteindelijk ook betaald wordt voor het werk wat ik doe (ookal was het loon niet nodig en kunnen we makkelijk rondkomen met dat van mijn man). En dat goede gevoel heeft dus niks te maken met financieel onafhankelijk zijn, eerder met waardering voor mijn werk.
Posted by: saskia - LA at September 23, 2007 12:53 PMUpcoming book mark(et)ing hypes:
Dummy mummy (doesn’t know her bee-hind from a hole in the ground)
Bummy mummy (drifts in and out all the time, pushing her cart up and down market)
Mummy mummy (slightly dehydrated, dead since 4800 B.C.)
Well, if this is life, I’ll opt out, taking the &cetera. But first let’s flick some sass, inspired by such quotes as ‘ik ken ook geen man die dit genre vrouwen aantrekkelijk vindt’ and ‘extremen zijn niet automatisch goed voor ons’.
There’s work to do, girl!
