Caroline: She's a Kennedy, But She's a Lot Like Us

[bottomtheweaver]

By Anne Glusker, The Washington Post
Sunday, December 28, 2008; Page B01

Amid all the recent buzz about Caroline Kennedy's bid for a U.S. Senate seat, there has been a great deal of talk about her connections, her power, her wealth. But the way I see it, if you strip away the glamour, the name and the money, then Caroline is . . . me. And many of my friends. Maybe even you. If, that is, you happen to be a midlife woman raising kids and returning -- or thinking of returning, or hoping one day to return -- to the full-time workforce.

<snip>

Clearly, the classic "mother's CV" poses problems, for Kennedy and for those of us in a similar boat. <. . .> They seem a bit tentative, lacking in confidence. As I've tried to help each one fashion a convincing document -- neither hiding the gaps nor trying to cute them up with terms like "household engineer" -- I've realized that although I had a good sense of what each woman's strengths and weaknesses were, they simply weren't represented on the piece of paper I was staring at.

<snip>

No wonder these women seem tentative: They know that most employers won't think they merit the jobs they have their eyes on. <. . .> Even though the job Kennedy is trying to nab is a far cry from the account executive or publicist positions that my friends might go after, the phenomenon at work is the same. The reaction seems to be: If she hasn't followed a straight-and-narrow, logical path, we simply can't imagine her in the role under discussion.

<snip>

Caroline Kennedy, of course, doesn't share my concerns about lifetime earnings losses or 401(k) plans. But she does have to worry about being unfairly penalized for her unconventional résumé, about being nastily pigeonholed as a mere "happy housewife." For her sake, and that of all us in-and-out, stopping, opting, part-time, full-time working mothers, I hope she gets a fair shake.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601118.html
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Interesting perspective, isn't it?

[Captain Hilts]

1. True to a certain degree. Women do have a different timeline and lives have different paths.

They get a later start, for one.

And that should be "she's a lot like WE are," not "She's a lot like us."

[bottomtheweaver]

2. I think you would be right about the grammar IF

"like" was being used a conjunction rather than a preposition. If it's being used a preposition, as here, then "us" is correct, as it's the English first-person plural objective personal pronoun, and it's being used as the object of a preposition.

On the other hand, according to my AHD, the use of "like" as a conjunction is, ahem, "informal." :)

[Warpy]

3. I wish our different time line would be respected

After all, our safest years for childbirth are 18-26. Forcing us to follow the male timeline of college and then career and then marriage in the 30s has led to a lot of mink draped fertility specialists, risking our lives and our future children's lives unnecessarily.

Our timeline should be children, then college, then career.

Kennedy has not been a useless rich housewife, sitting decoratively on charity boards. She has authored 4 books on law/history and 4 on poetry.

She is eligible and qualified. Her children are grown and it's time for a new career.

While I am the first to decry dynasties, it applies to the dynastic appointments of unqualified people to high posts. I think all of us who have been awake for the past 8 years know the outcome of such appointments.

However, Kennedy is qualified despite her famous pedigree.

[Captain Hilts]

5. To participate actively in politics women of a certain age used to have to be VERY wealthy...

or a lesbian. In other words, you couldn't be obligated to be home to cook for kids.

So, most women that were in politics were wealthy or lesbians.

There's still some truth to this pattern since women do the bulk of child-rearing and housework, to this day.

[AtomicKitten]

4. Caroline brings a lot to the table and I hope she is successful in her quest for this seat.

[bottomtheweaver]

6. I think she'll be as good as Ted, or maybe even better.

With Teddy guiding her, I think she'll get up to speed very quickly, particularly on health and education, and she won't have Ted's lifelong enemies to contend with every time she sneezes.

On second thought, maybe she will. :(