‘Tradition’ and the Working Woman

It seems that whenever a researcher points out that some women have postponed paychecks in order to be full-time mothers and homemakers, The Times sees a need to devote considerable ink to attack the research. As a child of the ‘70s, it has been my impression that the women’s movement is about freedom of choice.

As hard as it is for View to believe, there are a fair number of women who work only the minimum necessary to maintain professional skills, to put food on the table, or who do not work at all because they have children. Former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro is an example of a woman who postponed her career to devote time to her young family. Her decision to be a mother first and a lawyer later does not appear to have a detrimental effect on her “self-actualization,” to use Eve Mayer’s phrase.

Few of the critics of Good Housekeeping’s new ad campaign seem to have noticed that the magazine has made a simple marketing decision to target and serve a particular group of women. Women who see themselves served by the magazine will buy it; women who don’t will go on reading New Woman, Savvy or the Wharton Review.

CATHERINE A. K. RANGER

Bakersfield