Word: motherhood
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...takes over, Bush's response to the controversy set off by the Wellesley seniors may be what is remembered. While the First Lady's official cause is literacy, her unofficial mission is to convince a new generation of women that there is honor and a deep, sustaining pleasure in motherhood, that a life-style is no substitute for a life. "At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, ((not)) winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal," she said. "You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child...
Wellesley President Nan Keohane sees no such ambiguity. In response to a protest petition signed by more than 150 students, she argued that motherhood and a commitment to family life--which Barbara Bush epitomizes--are valid choices for women. Even feminists, she contends, should define themselves through their relationships as well as their occupations...
...generational thing. But is also a political thing. The reason why we have so many options today is because we have the option of motherhood. Birth control and access to legal abortions have given us the ability to define ourselves through our careers, our children or our marriage--or any combination of the three--because we can choose at which point we want any one of those options...
...commencement day, few college graduates want to be reminded of the dilemma; at 22, motherhood is easy to devalue. The rush that comes from closing a million-dollar deal, getting the corner office or winning collegial respect has an immediate appeal that mountains of diapers and twelve years of PTA do not. Not just men or the marketplace but the sisterhood as well came to believe that the only jobs worth pursuing are paid and the only accomplishments worth having are ones that enhance a resume. In last winter's alumni magazine, Wellesley graduate Mary Morrow wrote about...
...Bush spends her days drawing attention to the homeless, AIDS patients, the poor, and those whose lives have been so impoverished they never learned to read. For Wellesley students, says Hewlett, Bush "has all sorts of wisdom about what half of their lives will be" -- of the victories of motherhood, small and evanescent, which occur largely behind closed doors with results apparent in the next decade, not the next deal. It is a profession in which almost nothing happens day by day but everything is won or lost over time. Important stuff for these women who, if they are lucky...