Blog 8

There were many responses to Belkins article "Opt Out," most of which were in strong opposition to Belkin's theory that many women, at some point after they start their career realize that they would rather stay at home and take care of the kids so they "opt out" of their careers, possibly trying to go back after the kids grow up. Some of the most heard responses are criticisms that Belkin's data is simply not statistically sound. She uses phrases like "many," and "dozens" and basically just interviewed close friends and acquaintances to get most of her data. All of her interviewees were wealthy, highly educated women which made opting out a reasonable choice for them. Many women out there in the workforce today simply do not have that option. They must continue working to make ends meet throughout their children's adolescence and teenage years. Another criticism of her article is that women who read it will be tricked into thinking that it's relatively plausible to take a break from the workforce simply to return five or ten years down the road. This proves to not be the case most of the time. Although mostly negative, there were a few positive responses to her article. Some have applauded her for standing up and reporting a recent trend that she saw, which they feel could indeed be a legitimate phenomena. Another argument that has been made is that yes, Belkin does focus primarily on upper class white women but that it is an area that needs to be studied and perhaps the opt out trend is only present in that certain group.
My own experiences with this type of situation are limited because my mother quit her job shortly after my oldest sibling was born and never went back to work. She was never on track towards a wildly successful career or anything like that, and I get the impression that as soon as my mother and father got married they made the decision together that she would stay at home and raise the children if possible. Although our family is by no means wealthy, our family was able to make ends meet without any additional money brought in by my mother.