Women, Feminism, and Femininity in the 21st Century: American and French Perspectives pp 177-187 | Cite as
Creative Feminine Nonfiction in the United States: A Model for French Feminists?
Abstract
Last summer, during an excursion in the Corsican hills, I was speaking to a friend of mine, who is a sociologist, about my future, both as an academic and as a mother of French nationality in the United States. Given the limited number of jobs as a professor and even as a lecturer, as well as my limited geographic flexibility (New York, Los Angeles, and New York again—since there was no question of a “commuter marriage,” a life in which my children and I would see my husband only on weekends), my chances of having a career in the field of French studies, the field to which I have devoted the last ten years of my life, are quite slim. My friend then asked me if I was a “traditional” woman, overlooking her career in the interest of her family. In a way I must admit, even with distaste, and without entering at present into the varied reasons for this choice, that the answer to this question is yes. But I must say “feminist” as well, in spite of the negative associations implicit in this term and the long-standing struggles that it evokes. Feminist in the sense that I am interested in and feel directly concerned with questions that are specific to women: to their situation and to their role in society, particularly where the work force is concerned in the Western world and, still more specifically, in France and in the United States. Furthermore, in spite of the negative connotations attached to the term “feminism” on the other side of the Atlantic, it appeals to many women still, and not only to those who are old enough to have led the struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. “What is it, then, to be feminist today?” persisted my sociologist friend.
Keywords
Child Care American Woman Nursery School Woman Writer French WomanPreview
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