Just when you thought the world finally leveled the professional playing field, along comes an ill-informed, overpaid, testosterone-induced, columnist to ruin what women have worked so hard to achieve: balancing a professional and personal life. Michael Noer, editor of forbes.com used his site, known for their business savvy reporting, to waste space explaining why men should not marry "career women."
My passion for writing comes from the belief that life cannot be derived through finite equations. For this very reason, statistical facts have always been unappealing to me when explaining human experience. Mr. Noer is an obvious mathematical follower since he bases his entire rant (I refuse to give his work any journalistic value) on statistics. He references The Journal of Marriage and Family when writing with full confidence that career women will "be unhappy [if they quit their jobs and stay home with the kids]" or "...if they make more money than [men]." The Journal of Marriage and Family is a reputable research journal, and I do not dispute any of the findings they collected; however, one does not have to be a social scientist to know this cannot be true of every woman who makes above $30,000 per year.
For one, I can say with 100% certainty they never asked me; did they ask you? One, ten, one thousand, even ten million women can never speak for a whole. I am positive the Journal of Marriage and Family is appalled that their name was used in vain. Secondly, are these findings based strictly on divorce rates in America? Did they read each and every legal document to see why these women ended their marriage? That would be too simple, of course. Instead, Mr. Noer uses the labor specialization theory [when traditional roles of husband (breadwinner) and wife (home maker) become less defined, the value of marriage decreases, leading to divorce] to rationalize his debate. I am sure if researchers put down their statistical models and truly ask women the cause of their divorce, the answer needs no extrapolations: adultery, deceit, abuse, neglect, etc. are only a few of the many causes that lead to divorce. Labor specialization has nothing do with divorce. Men are unwilling to accept the fact women can be in a higher financial position than them: it is a hit to their fragile ego. Lastly, this verbal hodgepodge insists that statistics prove women with higher education are more likely to cheat. Cheating on your mate or spouse, no matter the gender, has nothing to do with education and EVERYTHING to do with accepting responsibility for one's actions, period. Only in America does every aspect of human action have an excuse. When are we going to stop hiding behind numbers and be adults?
My major concern regards what Mr. Noer and social research scientists believe to be "professional women." I didn't know one had to make a certain amount to be considered professional. So, what does this make other women who work forty hours a week? Meaningless? Not worthy of being statistically analyzed? Maybe they don't matter- that would explain the state of America's socio-economic divide. I graduated from a nationally recognized university and worked in the financial industry, all while bringing in less than $25, 000 a year. It is a slap in any woman's face to be called anything other than a professional when she is a hardworking, law-abiding, and tax paying citizen. I would like to personally apologize to any woman who happens to be a "high school dropout minding a cash register."
As women, finding a niche in the workplace traditionally dominated by men is stressful enough. To know in 2006, there are actual men who would rather we dumb ourselves into not acquiring as much education as possible is an insult at best. How can today's professionals be any type of role model or positive influence for tomorrow's leaders, especially females, when a financial magazine's editor thinks it's worth a thought to not educate yourself in order to have a life of marriage and happiness?
I believe Mr. Noer should have spent more time as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow studying social behavior rather than the history of Santa Claus...this is the man we want to lead our nation's most respected financial news website? I believe it is every woman's right to educate herself, find love & the pursuit of happiness, and have a wonderful career. Women can do this and work 1st, 2nd, or 3rd shift. My final words for Mr. Noer: Bah, Humbug!
