Feminism is about choices for women

Re “The return of the happy housewife,” Current, March 5

Charlotte Allen gloats that the majority of women whose husbands support them financially are happy; she seems to think that fact repudiates feminism. In so doing, she completely forgets that most working mothers work because their families cannot survive without their paychecks. Therefore, by definition, families in which the wife is not required to work are families feeling a little less crushed by the new economy. Lucky them.

The high number of married women and mothers in the workforce is not a feminist triumph; it is merely the result of economic pressures that have re-shaped the American family since the 1980s. Feminism, like all civil rights movements, is about choice. I don’t know any working mothers who wouldn’t be happier if their husbands could support the family by themselves.

RENEE LEASK

Glendale

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Allen completely misses Betty Friedan’s point -- she simply wanted women to have the freedom to make a choice between stay-at-home wifehood and alternatives. The happy housewives that Allen mentions choose to be such. Choosing our own direction in life -- as opposed to being held hostage by societal conventions -- is what facilitates happiness.

SUSAN BEDARD

West Hills