POSTFEMINISM AS REPRESENTS
IN KATE REDDY'S CHARACTER IN ALLISON PEARSON'S
I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT
A Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Fitria Ariani
Student Number: 011214102
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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POSTFEMINISM AS REPRESENTS
IN KATE REDDY'S CHARACTER IN ALLISON PEARSON'S
I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT
A Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Fitria Ariani
Student Number: 011214102
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ART EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING EDUCATION SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vi ABSTRACT
Ariani, Fitria. Postfeminism as Represents in Kate Reddy’s Characters in Allison Pearson’s “I Don’t Know How She Does It.” Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teaching Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University. 2009.
This study concerns a modern working mother in the novel by Allison Pearson entitled I Don’t Know How She Does It. I decided to use this novel because the main character in the novel clearly demonstrates the characteristics of postfeminism.
This study has two problems formulated. First, it is about the main character’s general characterizations in the novel. Second, it is about the main character as a postfeminist figure. Therefore, there are also two objectives in this study, regarding to the problems formulated. First, it is to describe the main character in the novel. Second, it is to show the main character as a postfeminist figure.
The method employed in this study is library research. I have acquired the sources from the main novel, postfeminism books and journals, feminism books and articles, chick lit novels and books. Also, other sources that related to the novel, postfeminism, feminism, chick lit, popular culture and ‘gender studies’. In answering the first problem, I use the theories of character and characterization that mostly the theories from Murphy’s theory. Then, in answering the second problem I use the theories of postfeminism characteristics. I also use ‘gender studies’ approach to examine the condition of modern female writings.
Through the analysis, I answer the problems formulated. I found that the main character portrayed her characters through her actions and roles in her life.
vii
ABSTRAK
Ariani, Fitria. Postfeminism as Represents in Kate Reddy’s Characters in Allison Pearson’s “I Don’t Know How She Does It.” Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Studi ini adalah mengenai seorang ibu modern yang bekerja dalam novel karya Allison Pearson yang berjudul I Don’t Know How She Does It. Karena karakter utama pada novel ini secara jelas menunjukkan karakter-karakternya sebagai seseorang yang posfeminis, maka dari itu saya memutuskan untuk menggunakan novel ini untuk studi saya.
Ada dua permasalahan yang diformulasikan pada studi ini. Pertama adalah mengenai karakter yang dimiliki oleh karakter utama pada novel. Kedua adalah mengenai karakter sesosok posfeminis yang dimiliki oleh karakter utama. Maka dari itu, ada dua tujuan daripada studi ini. Pertama adalah untuk mendeskripsikan karakter yang dimiliki oleh karakter utama pada novel. Kedua adalah untuk menunjukkan bahwa karakter utama adalah sosok seorang posfeminis.
Metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah metode kepustakaan. Saya mendapatkan narasumber untuk studi saya melalui novel utama, buku-buku dan jurnal mengenai posfeminisme, buku-buku dan artikel mengenai feminisme, novel-novel chick lit dan buku-buku mengenai chick lit. Juga sumber-sumber lainnya yang berhubungan dengan novel yang saya bahas, posfeminisme, feminisme, chick lit, kebudayaan populer dan pembelajaran antar kelamin. Untuk menjawab permasalahan yang pertama, saya cenderung menggunakan teori karakter dan karakterisasi milik Murphy. Lalu untuk menjawab permasalahan yang kedua, saya menggunakan teori karakterisasi posfeminisme. Saya juga menggunakan pendekatan dalam pembelajaran antar kelamin untuk menelaah kondisi kepustakaan wanita modern.
Melalui analisa, saya menjawab permasalahan demi permasalahan. Saya menemukan bahwa karakter utama mencerminkan karakteristiknya melalui tindakan dan peran dalam kehidupannya.
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I dedicate this to my beloved family, especially mom and dad.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I personally would like to express my appreciation to God the Almighty, because of His will, His time, and the miracles he has given to me; finally I could finish my years of study.
I would like also to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor, Henny Herawati, S.Pd., M.Hum., for her great deals of patience and effort in leading me through my study and also in encouraging me as a mentor and a friend. Without her guidance and persistent help, this study is definitely would not have been possible.
I send all my love and gratitude to my family—mom, dad, my sister and brother. Thank you for your support and love throughout my life. Especially for my Mom and Dad who provide me the most facilities that I need in the study and one of them is love. I believe words just could not express my gratitude to all of you. You will always be my priority and endless love.
I would like to thank I Made Bhaskara and A. Priyo Santoso who helped me by providing the media that I need the most in the study, the novel and some of the book sources. Without the help, I believe this study will be nothing but trash.
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during the study. Third, it is for my special best friends M. Fitri Wijayasih, Felicia Desianti and Nindhita Athidira P. Mapparessa for supporting me, for being such a great accompany within life, and for being my best friends.
I also want to say thanks and also send my supports to my beloved PBI
2001 ‘canteeners’ team: especially to Puguh Alfath Tegar, Ari Dwi Nugroho, Sancaka Rangga Nanda and Andreas Priyo; then to all of my beloved harmony in my life, Fairy Floss: Reny Ambarwati, Nusi Prawita, M. Hyacinta Novia Trihastuti and Cyntia Ardesia. Last but not least, my last two thanks are also for Joeliana Rahajoe and Susanti Malasari.
Finally I would like to thank Dhanniek Kuntoyo and Chatarina Artilantari for being such a great helper in academic situations.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE ……… i
PAGES OF APPROVAL ……….……… ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ……….………… iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS ……… v
ABSTRACT ………..……… vi
ABSTRAK ………. vii
PAGE OF DEDICATION ...………...……….. viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……….. ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ……….. xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1Background of the Study ……… 1
1.2Problem Formulations ………. 5
1.3Objectives of the Study ………... 5
1.4Benefits of the Study ………... 5
1.5Definition of Terms ………. 6
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Theoretical Review ………. 9
2.1.1 Theory of Critical Approach ………..………… 9
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2.1.3 Theory of Postfeminism ………..……... 14
2.1.4 Postfeminism Characteristics ………. 16
2.2 Theoretical Framework ………... 18
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Subject Matter ………. 19
3.2 Approach ………. 20
3.3 Procedure ……… 20
CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS 4.1 The Character of Kate Reddy ……….…………. 22
4.1.1 Smart ………... 22
4.1.2 Idealistic ……….. 24
4.1.3 Tough ……….. 26
4.1.4 Planner ……… 27
4.1.5 Workaholic ……….. 28
4.1.6 Sophisticated ………... 29
4.2 Postfeminism Characteristics in Kate Reddy ………... 30
4.2.1 General Rejection of Second Wave Feminism ………... 30
4.2.2 Female Identity Crisis ………. 32
4.2.3 Focus on the Individual ………... 35
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions ………. 38
5.2 Suggestions ………. 41
5.2.1 Suggestions for Future Researchers ……….. 41
5.2.2 Suggestions for the Teachers in the Implementation of Teaching Reading using Literary Work ……… 41
REFERENCES ……… 44
APPENDICES 1. An Interview With and a Short Biography of Allison Pearson ………… 47
2. Summary of I Don’t Know How She Does It ………... 52
3. Syllabus of Intensive Reading II ………... 53
4. Lesson Plan of Intensive Reading II ………. 55
5. Material of Intensive Reading II ………... 58
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
There are five essential opening sections to comprehend the discussion. It is begin with background of the study which presents the description of the topic and reasons for its selection. Second is problem formulation section which formulates the questions to be analyzed in the study. Third are the objectives of the study that state the purpose of the study. Then, there are benefits of the study, which identify the benefits from the study. Then, the last section is the definition of terms section that elaborates the key words in the study in order to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
1.1 Background of the Study
male jobs; e.g. an electrician or president. They also get their maternity leave and equal payment in the workplace.
In its evolution, feminism perspectives raging from culture to law and at result there are varieties in feminism movements, e.g. Radical Feminism, Liberal Feminism, Marxist Feminism, Socialist Feminism and many others (Humm 407-409). Then I found myself getting more interested in this uniquely “different manifestation of feminism” called postfeminism which also as the result of feminism (qtd. in Pilcher 106).
Postfeminism is often to be judged as an antifeminism movement because most of the characteristics are about to reject some concepts that were not allowable through feminism, even tough the essence is not “as being anti-feminist” (qtd. in Pilcher 106). In my opinion, this idea may fit in the representation of contemporary women’s lives. I believe that most women do not realize that they indirectly have some of the postfeminism qualities in their lives. That is why I want to present postfeminism into my study.
man and woman because they are people, as Jung believes that “within every woman is a man, and within every man is a woman, … both man and women need to integrate the male and the female within to be whole human beings,” (qtd. in Grant xviii). Further, Quamme said that “if feminism proposes to improve life by making social and political changes, postfeminism answers that the large portions of life can’t be dealt with so rationally,” (qtd. in Ferriss 19).
Postfeminism is illustrated adequately in a popular fiction of women’s literature called Chick lit. Chick lit books are usually best-sellers. They have nice, attractive and colorful covers. Even most of the most succeeded one would be adapted into movies and also television shows, such as Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1998) and Candance Bushnell’s Sex and the City (1999). The characters in the Chick Lit has portrayed the reality of independent and sometimes outrageous young women battle the modern life for “taking responsibility for who they are,” and free from the tradition of feminism (Ferriss 21). As the Routledge group describe a book edited by Suzanne Ferriss entitled Chick Lit: The New Woman's Fiction, they mentioned that, “chick lit genre came from a range of critical perspectives, considering its conflicted relationship with feminism and postfeminism,” (“Chick Lit: The New Woman's Fiction,” par. 2, my italic).
Mother explained that Shannon Brouillette is a thirty-four year old mother of two kids. She is a wife also a President and Founder of CFO Strategic Partner. She built the business from a one-woman show in 1999 to a successful enterprise with 30 employees and more than 400 clients (Amstrong, “How She Does It,” par. 1). This feature of Ms. Brouillette is a close match to the subject that I present in this study, about a young working mother that is noticeable in Allison Pearson’s number one debut Chick lit novel I Don’t Know How She Does It.
The main character in I Don’t Know How She Does is Katharine Reddy. She is a mother of two children who lived in a trendy North London house with her lower-earning architect husband. She is a star at her work in a brokerage firm, EMF, in London. Kate is happy by her high set living and has a successful high-profile job as a fund manager. Meanwhile, she is also desperately aware of what it takes out of her life as a mother and a wife, she is “a working mother crazed by her double life,” (Begley “Kate Reddy is Bridget with Brains, a Woman-not a Girl-Who Knows Better” par 1).
1.2 Problem Formulation
In problem formulation, two questions to be answered of this study have been formulated, they are:
1. How is Kate Reddy's character described?
2. How does Kate Reddy, the main character of I Don’t Know How She Does It, represent a postfeminist figure?
1.3 Objectives of the Study
As what have been stated in problems formulation before, first this study will describe about Kate Reddy’s character in the novel. This is intended for the readers to understand the general characterizations of the main character in the novel before going to a deeper analysis about the character.
Then second, after knowing Kate Reddy’s general characterizations, this study will show the appearances of postfeminism inside of the main character to offer a clarification of the presentation of postfeminism in modern women society today through the point of view from Kate Reddy as the main character in Allison Pearson’s novel I Don’t Know How She Does It.
1.4 Benefits of the Study
entertaining reading book. In extras, the readers might get some information about working mother, womanhood, motherhood, domesticity and traditional femininities indirectly.
On a personal level, this process has made me realize about how I will be one day and the most, about how my mother does everything that seems invisible to the family and she has never complains. I should really appreciate her more for her everything and for whom she is.
1.5 Definition of Terms
There are some terms and key words that are used in the study that should be explained here, to help the reader get the meaning of the terms and minimize the wrong idea of the terms. They are:
1. Feminism
According to Maggie Humm in her book feminism is a belief in the political, social, and economic equality of women; a discourse that involves various movements, theories, and philosophies which are concerned with the issue of gender difference, advocate equality for women, and campaign for women's rights and interests; most feminists are especially concerned with social, political, and economic inequality between men and women (ix).
2. Postfeminism
to transitions in debates largely focused around equality issues to the current focus on multiplicity, plurality, and difference (4). In addition, based on Lacan and Postfeminism by Elizabeth Wright as quoted in the Wikipedia, postfeminism is now a label for a wide range of theories that take critical approaches to previous feminist discourses and includes challenges to the second wave's ideas (“Postfeminism” par.1).
3. Popular Culture/Pop Culture
According to Fiske, popular culture is culture-the active process of generating and circulating meanings and pleasures within a social system: culture, however industrialized, can never be adequately described in terms of the buying and selling of commodities (23).
4. Working Mother
It is not intended to differentiate the term of house working mothers. However, according to Hickey and Salmans in The Working Mother's Guild Guide the term working mother here is for women with children who are gainfully employed outside the home and have earning (xvii).
5. Character
6. Chick lit
Based on Chick Lit: the New Woman’s Fiction by Suzanne Ferriss as quoted in the Wikipedia, chick lit is a term used to denote genre fiction within women's fiction written for and marketed to young women, especially single, working women in their twenties and thirties that generally deals with the issues of modern women humorously and lightheartedly (“Chick lit”, par.1). 7. Breadwinner
According to Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, breadwinner is the member of a family who earns the money that the family needs.
8. First Wave Feminism
According to Feminism: A Reader by Maggie Humm, First Wave Feminism is also known as ‘old wave’ feminism, the term usually refers to the mobilization of the Suffrage movement in America and England between 1890 and 1920, although an organized ‘feminist’ movement for women’s suffrage had existed for forty years earlier (406).
9. Second Wave Feminism
9 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Chapter two includes all the theories that support the analysis of the novel. It is divided into two main parts; they are theoretical review and theoretical framework. The first part is the explanation of the theories that support the study and the second part, that is the last, explains the theoretical framework of the study.
2.1 Theoretical Review
2.1.1 Theory of Critical Approaches
After reading a literary work, usually readers will give responses to the work they have read. Those responses to literature as a form of art are called the esthetic response and the response is to its beauty (Rohrberger & Woods 3). In order to give the esthetic response to literature, we need to know the theory of critical approaches which will be explained bellow.
object. Author's biography might influence the ideas and results of the works (7-8). The socio-cultural historical is to analyze a novel in reference to the civilisation that produces the novel (9). The mythopoeic approach is to discover certain universal recurrent patterns of human thought. The universal recurrent patterns are expressions usually found in ancient myths and folks (11-12). The psychological approach believes that the behavior of the characters in the story can be referred to the psychology of human being that the behavior of each character is easily understood by analyzing the psychological side, since a character might reflect people personalities (16).
2.1.2 Theory of Character and Characterization
I Don't Know How She Does It is an interesting story to read from the beginning until the end. It also presents characters that the readers care and are curious about. Somehow, characters are always taking an essential role in a literary work and will also determine the quality of the work. Therefore, to get closer and know the characters of the novel, we need to understand about the term character and characterization first.
Abrams in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms defines character as a person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, which is interpreted by the reader as having particular traits, natural qualities of human being, and emotional qualities that are expressed through the dialogue and the action (20). However, a character is not merely a person in a story; it still has human characteristics, feelings, and also moral value which are shown through the works and attitude as in real life. The reader must accept it as a believable person, because the presentation of a character influences the readers’ interpretations of the story. This concept of character as a composite of human traits is useful for purposes of literary study. It enables the researcher to study character by studying human behaviors and also to get the closest results to understand the character in the literary study.
character has a combination of traits. This character usually undergoes change in some aspects (Guth & Rico 70).
Character and characterization can not be separated (Harvey 30). Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen defines characterization as the way in which an author attempts to make his characters understandable and come alive for his readers; therefore, the readers are able to visualize the characters as the author expected (161-173).
In order to present the character in the story to be a believable person, an author can use many ways to make the characters understandable by the readers. Murphy points out nine ways in which an author attempts to present the character in the story understandable and alive for the readers. They are personal description, the way in which character is seen by others, the character’s speech, the character's past life, the conversation of others, the figure’s reactions, direct comments given by the author, the character’s thoughts, and mannerism.
person says. Therefore, readers can see the description of the character whenever the person speaks, whenever the person is in a conversation with another and whenever he puts forward an opinion (164). In past life, an author gives the past life of a person’s character in the story in order to understand the character. By learning something from someone’s past life in the story, the author gives clues to events that have helped to shape the person’s character (166). An author can also give the readers clues to a person’s character through the conversation of other people and the things that they say about the character. People do talk about other people, and the things they say often give a clue to the character of the person spoken in conversation (167). The clues to a character can also be given through the reactions of each character or each person presented in the story towards various situations and events (168). In direct comment, an author can describe or give comment on a person’s character directly by giving direct comments to the character (170). The ninth way is thought, an author can give the readers direct knowledge of what a person thinks about, how different people are thinking (171). Last, an author can also describe a person’s habits and mannerism, which may also tell the readers something about the character (173).
2.1.3 Theory of Postfeminism
First of all as Pilcher mentioned that to comprehend postfeminism, it is a must to state that “there is no agreement about how postfeminism can be defined” (105). Thus as a result, the definition of term is usually “essentially contradict” (Pilcher, 105). This means that there are pro and against towards postfeminism. The pro would say that postfeminism is “a different manifestation of feminism” and found this liberating, while the opponent would say that postfeminism is antifeminism (Pilcher 106).
Ann Brooks herself, the author of Postfeminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms, would argue that “it is not a question of depoliticizing feminism, but of marking a conceptual shift between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ – from a model based on equality, to debates around the revivified and theorized concept of difference” (qtd. in Pilcher 106). The conceptual shift within feminism is like about accepting pluralism to shape equality than create equality. Yeatman further elaborate that, “postfeminism represents feminism’s maturity, a
development into a confident body of theory and politics, representing pluralism and difference” (qtd. in Brooks 1, my italic). According to Braithwaite, postfeminism is “about, not against feminism … an active rethinking not wholly new phenomena, but a way of articulating changes in and the evolution of feminisms” (27).
“a backlash on feminism”, which is understood as postfeminism, by attempting to “blame it for the supposed misery of women today” (91). According to Braithwaite, “the evidence of this backlash … is especially evident in the renewed emphasis on images of women that replay and celebrate more traditional definitions of femininity, definitions that were the locus of earlier feminist thinking, commentary, and action” (20).
Alice as quoted in Postfeminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms mentioned that “postfeminism was happened in the period between the achievement of women’s suffrage in the U.S. and the rise of Second Wave feminism during the 1960s” (qtd. in Brooks 2). Lisa Tuttle claimed in her book Fictional Feminism that, “postfeminism demarks an emerging culture and ideology that simultaneously incorporates, revises, and depoliticizes many of the fundamental issues advanced by Second Wave feminism” (6). Therefore, negative notion towards feminism in Second Wave started to emerge, for example Bryn mentioned that “Second wave feminism is seen as an anachronistic and completely unfashionable politics and worldview” (qtd. in Braithwaite 24).
2.1.4 Postfeminist Characteristics
From further reading, the literature has shown that there are four main characteristics of postfeminism. Most of these characteristics are found in Susan Faludi’s backlash theory, Grant’s advice manual and Ann Braithwaite’s journal. However, postfeminism is “described as being about everything feminism wasn’t” (Braithwaite 24)
responsibility entails not only making all choices, but making the right choices, to be responsive to this newfound freedom of personal responsibility” (261).
The second characteristic is the female identity crisis which state that women today are not familiar with the term womanhood, because “feminism did not prepare them for the roles as women” (Friedan 75). “Feminism, having promised her—woman—a stronger sense of her own identity, has given her little more than an identity crisis” the best-selling advice manual Being a Woman asserts (Grant 25, my italic). Grant asserted that, “contemporary women have a real cause to worry because feminism placing so much emphasis on career and not taking enough attention on marriage or motherhood” (4). She also explained that “the dilemma of the contemporary woman” is shown when she “tries to decide between the life of a single career girl and that of wife and mother” because “the price she has had to pay to gain the whole world often feels like the loss of her very soul” (4).
The third character is focus on the individual for personal pleasures. By taking back what feminism have had limited, women seem to have more freedoms. Braithwaite mentioned that these may “include … fashion, beauty, sexiness, fun and pleasure …” (23). This of course signifies of indulgence that considers “a rebellion against the old regime of feminism” and “lifestyle choices and personal consumer pleasures” (Braithwaite 24).
feminism. As mentioned by Faludi that “women had enough for the need for equality and they started claiming that they only wanted to be the guardians of motherhood and domesticity, the ‘housekeepers’ of national politics” (287). She also asserts that “feminists failed women by promoting the Equal Rights Amendment, pushing for no-fault divorce laws, and ignoring motherhood” (326). For these reasons, perhaps it is because of these domestic matters were not as that important to their life. Women today are now realizing that this might be a considered alternative lifestyle.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
For the theoretical framework, I will use the related theories to help me to analyze my study. For analyzing the general characterizations of the main character in the novel, I will use the theory of character and characterizations.
19 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter contains the subject matter of this literary study. It also contains the approach of the study that I use in analysing the study. Last is the procedure of the study that is the steps that I use in completing the study.
3.1 Subject Matter
The subject matter here is a novel that I choose to be analyzed. It is entitled I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson. This novel is about 354 pages and published by Vintage, a division of Random House (UK) in year 2003.
3.2 Approach
I use gender studies as the approach of the study because as Pilcher and Whelehan has mentioned, it opens the field of women’s studies mainly in the Women’s Liberation Movement (xi). I Don’t Know How She Does It is a novel that was written by a female writer in the nature of modern feminine writing in the scope of Women’s Liberation Movement. By using ‘gender studies’, I got the image of traditional definitions of family, sexuality, female reproduction and contemporary women’s liberation movement. This approach is the most adequate one to study postfeminism.
3.3 Procedures
It is a library study; therefore I did the primary and secondary source. I use Alison Pearson’s novel entitled I Don’t Know How She Does It as the primary source.
The secondary sources of my study are the materials that support the evidence for the problem formulation study. They are dictionaries, encyclopaedias, textbooks, some newspaper and magazines articles both from the library and the Internet.
After that, I had to find the ideal literary media that could be best to describe my topic. After reading about seven chick lit novels, I fall in love with Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It.
It is a must to understand the topic before, during, and after the study therefore I would not get lost in the comprehension. Reading more books, e-books and the articles that support the topic both again from the library and the Internet simply can help it. It is also important to read the novel carefully and over again. I also underlined some important lines to me and wrote some notes on the novel that would help me in future analyzing.
22 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter is intended to answer both questions in problem formulation that have been stated in the previous chapter. It analyzes Kate Reddy’s characterization in general. Last is the analysis of the main character as a postfeminist figure.
4.1 The Characteristics of Kate Reddy
Pearson has well developed on Kate Reddy’s character. Kate has a complex combination of traits. Referring to Guth and Rico’s theory, Kate is a round character (70). Therefore, Pearson developed the main character in her novel beyond the stereotype in developing a modern working woman character.
I use Murphy’s theory to help me analyzing the character. The theories are character are personal description, character as seen by another, speech, past life, conversation of other, reactions, direct comment, thought and mannerism. Using those theories, Pearson portrays Kate Reddy as follow:
4.1.1 Smart
believes that an unexpected presentation for trainee employer is nothing for Kate. Moreover, her friend who said the statement has also indirectly believed that Kate is a smart person. Of course, the presentation works well.
In another circumstance, referring to Murphy’s theory of character as seen by another (162), Pearson portrays Kate’s smartness from other people point of view. In the novel, Jerry—her father-in-law’s golf friend, said that Kate is a smart person.
“Well, it’s been lovely talking to you, love. Richard’s a lucky lad isn’t he? I say, Barbara, your Richard’s done well for himself. Your Katharine could go on Countdown, she’s got that good a head on her shoulders and a lovely little face with it.” (55)
Another portrayal of Kate’s smartness referring to Murphy’s theory of character as seen by another in the novel is from her own mother statement about what has her father thought about her. “… He was very proud of you, Kathy. I had to stop him showing your GCSE certificates to everyone” (392).
Still referring to Murphy’s theory character as seen by another, Pearson portrays Kate Reddy as a smart person through Kate’s thought about what had happened: that The Managing Director praised Kate’s grasp of the problems.
“Presentation is going brilliantly. The Managing Director, Sir Alasadair Cobbold, has just praised my grasp of the problems of European integration. Up here in the boardroom, on the seventeenth floor, with London spread out like a Lego village beneath me, for one giddy moment I feel as tough I am mistress of all I survey,” (110)
dignity has just awesome. She unexpectedly gives a resolution in the meeting. This has increasing the analysis that Kate Reddy is a smart person as portrayed by Allison Pearson in her novel.
“Actually, Rod, the South Pole expedition is not a bad management model. How about we apply it to our worst performing fund? The one that’s sapping our resources? Maybe the worst fund needs to take a walk in the snow.” (84-85)
4.1.2 Idealistic
Pearson has portrayed Kate Reddy as an idealistic person. She almost has every principle for almost everything in her life. Say if things happened out from what she has expected then she will be unpleased. She tends to do things that sometimes out from her league as best as she can, without considering about her abilities.
In the novel, Kate believes that live is a competition. She has this idealism which has made her to believe that she would be able to survive in this life. In her statements against Richard, her husband, Pearson has brought Kate’s idealism referring to Murphy’s theory of speech (164),
“Everything is a competition, Rich, in case you hadn’t noticed. Someone wanting to smash your conker, someone wanting a prettier special-edition Barbie, someone wanting to take your biggest client away just to prove you couldn’t handle it. … If we do not com-pete, we are out on the str-eet. In the sh-eet.” (70)
Pearson also portrays Kate Reddy as an idealistic person when she forces herself to provide a home made contribution of appropriate festive refreshments for the Christmas party at her daughter’s school, which is unnecessary. Especially she was just about coming back home from her business trip a few hours ago and she only has the time for creating Sainsbury’s pie into a home-made look alike.
“This is not as easy as it sounds, believe me. Hit the pies too hard and they drop a kind of fat-lady curtsy, skirts of pastry bulging out at the sides and the fruit starts to ooze. Hit the pies too with a firm, downward motion— imagine enough pressure to crush a small beetle—you can start a crumbly little landslide, giving the pastry a pleasing homo-made appearance. And home-made is what I’m after here.” (3)
Once again, Pearson portrays Kate Reddy as an idealistic person referring to Murphy’s theory of thought (164). After the pie recreation has completed,
“Oh, hell. Retrieving the cartons from the bin, I wrap them inside yesterday’s paper, and carry the bundle at arm’s length out through the front door. Looking right and left to make sure I am unobserved, I slip them into the big black sack at the front of the house.” (7)
“He’s not a kid. He’s my baby. And it’s how I want him to look. Like a baby” (13). This example is referring to Murphy’s theory of speech (164) that Pearson portrays Kate as an idealist person once again as she speeches when she finds that her son’s new hair cut refers to Hitler Youth.
Referring to Murphy’s theory of reaction (168), Kate’s reaction shows that she is an idealistic person.
specifically instructed Guy to help her out too, but while I was away he would be otherwise engaged, having his bony Machiavellian arse measured for my chair.” (130-131)
In another circumstance, because she was not being pleased with the way her husband day caring her children at the home, she exclaims over and over to Richard. Referring to Murphy’s theory of character as seen by another (162), Pearson portrays Kate Reddy as an idealistic person through Richard’s perspective that, “Rich said that if I was going to be critical I should do it myself” (254). 4.1.3 Tough
Kate Reddy is a tough person. Indeed it cannot be generalized for every aspect. But for some specific matters, Kate can be considered as a tough woman.
Pearson portrays Kate Reddy as a tough person. Referring to Murphy’s theory of thought (171). In the novel, Pearson portrays Kate’s toughness through her own statement while speaking with her husband, “… but in suffering, in bitter experience, I am his superior and I carry that knowledge like a knife” (71). She moans that she feels that her husband is not as tough as her. That is why, she said such sentence, “… I am his superior and I carry that knowledge like a knife.”
In Kate’s thought, Pearson once again portrays Kate Reddy as a tough person. She could stand still in such office which remains in the chauvinist atmosphere. She just does not pay any attention about what will they say and do.
“Truth is, I don’t mind: let them comment on my legs if those legs help me keep me and my children in shoes. Being a woman doesn’t get you what you want within Edwin Morgan Forster, but it enables the firm to get what it wants outside – accounts, a reputation for ‘diversity’,” (124)
Another example of Pearson portrays Kate as a tough person using Murphy’s theory of though is still about not the way she deals with such situation.
“My boss has the daffodil by the beck now, and the dejected bloom is weeping yellow ash on to the grey carpet. ‘Hey, we don’t do can’t, sweetie. When did we start doing can’t? Can’t is for pussies.’ Was I shocked by the way Rod talked to me? Actually you’d probably be shocked by now by how unshocked I was. Chauvinism is the air I breathe – a bracing blend of Gucci Envy and salty gym residue … Soon it becomes the only smell in the world.” (123-124)
4.1.4 Planner
Kate is use to make certain to-do-lists for her life. She often put some things that are important to less important to do. Through these, we can see that Pearson has portrayed Kate Reddy as a planner.
Referring Murphy’s theory about mannerism (173), the way Pearson inserts Kate’s to-do-list is strengthen that Kate really is, a planner. Let it say, from the most important things,
“Get dishwasher fixed. Stair carpet? Fund transitions to be arranged—no fuck-ups! Call Jill Cooper-Clark. Application form for nursery for Ben? Emily schools find out NOW! Cheque for ballet. Remind Rich to get cash out for babysitter.” (182)
relaxation pillow. … Buy Sinatra CD. Gingseng for better memory or Gingko thingy?” (182). Or perhaps such things like this,
“Avoid social engagements which require clean clothes or clean furniture. Packing list for EuroDisney. Bread? Milk. Stair carpet. Call Dad. Application form for Ben nursery. Call Jill Cooper-Clark!! Thorntons chocolate ducklings!” (200)
And it just gets stronger, because within a to-do-list there is a to-do-list, “Packing list for EuroDisney” (200). She often writes the list down for nothing. She is actually want that the list to be happened but for some time she could not realize it because she does not really have enough time. The most important thing for her is she loves to write the list as a habit.
4.1.5 Workaholic
Kate Reddy is someone who works a lot of time and finds it difficult not to work. According to those statements, Pearson has portrayed Kate Reddy as a workaholic person. Referring to Murphy’s theory of thoughts (171), Kate delivers that she is a person who is a workaholic, “By the time I reach the haven of my desk, I’ve regained my composure. Here’s the thing: I love my job. It may not always sound like it, but I do. I love the blood-rush when the stocks I took a punt on deliver the goods” (17).
Referring to Murphy’s theory of direct comment (170), Pearson has portrayed that Kate admitted herself a workaholic, “My name is Kate Reddy and I am a workaholic. … It’s true, isn’t it? I can’t “give up” work. That makes me an addict, doesn’t it?” (334).
4.1.6 Sophisticated
Pearson has portrayed Kate Reddy as a sophisticated person in the way she behaves in fashion. She has got the brain and she has got the look. Referring to Murphy’s theory of though (171), in the novel Kate wants to appreciate herself and the meeting between her husband and her, “… I opened the wardrobe and ran my hand along the rail until I got to my finest Armani armor. A crow-black suit. From the rack beneath I chose a pair of patent heels with snakeskin toes …” (315) Another portrayal of Kate Reddy as a sophisticated person which is still referring to Murphy’s theory of though was on chapter sixteen. She was preparing herself for a big presentation in New Jersey.
“This morning, I dress for battle in full Armani armour. It is incredibly comforting pulling on a crisp white blouse and a digestive-biscuit-brown jacket and skirt with seams so sharp you could take out an appendix with them. I wear the fudge-coloured LK Bennett pencil heels with white stitching and a groin-piercing toe. The look I'm aiming for is Katharine
Hepburn Kicks Ass.” (149)
Referring to Murphy’s theory of mannerism (173), Pearson has portrayed Kate Reddy as a sophisticated person. She runs through her kit inspection before entering EMF building.
“Shoes, matching, two of? Check. No baby sick on jacket? Check. Skirt not tucked into knickers? Check. Bra not visible? Check.
4.2 Postfeminism Characteristics in Kate Reddy
Postfeminism has it own unique characteristics. As what have been discussed previously, there are about four characteristics of postfeminism; they are general rejection of Second Wave feminism, female identity crisis, focus on the individual, last is the revival of traditional femininity. Referring to these theories, the analyses of Kate Reddy as a postfeminist figure are as follow:
4.2.1 General Rejection of Second Wave Feminism
Referring to general rejection of Second Wave feminism, Pearson portrayed Kate Reddy as a postfeminist figure.
“It’s sooooo unfair. I am coming to conclusion that career-girl bollocks is one-generation-only trick. We are living proof that it can’t work, aren’t we?” (270).
Based on the novel, contrary to the results of feminism about equality, Kate finds that the modern working women do not really experienced the goal of equality. No matter what, the gender difference still exists for nature reasons.
“Indeed, I do know how it is. Man announces he has to leave the office to be with his child for short recreational burst and is hailed as selfless, doting paternal role model. Woman announces she has to leave the office to be with child who is on sickbed and is damned as disorganised, irresponsible and Showing Insufficient Commitment. For father to parade himself as a Father is a sign of strength; for mother to out herself as a Mother is a sign of appalling vulnerability. Don’t you just love equal opportunities?” (270)
Through Kate Reddy, Pearson has portrayed that Kate had annoyed to the non-beneficial feminism movement’s result. Thus she coins a new way of thinking for daughters about higher education.
“Forget higher education. Think we should send our girls to catering college where they can make decorative floral centerpieces and a delicious supper for two, then they can marry a man who will pay for them to stay at home and have pedicures. URGENT: Please remind me what was drawback to that way of life again???” (271)
Pearson has portrayed Kate Reddy to questions about the feminism’s equality. “And the equal-opportunities legislation? Doesn’t make it better; just drives the misogyny underground …” (124). She does not stop only in one brief question about the equality. Along reading the novel, I found another statement that Kate Reddy as portrayed by Pearson, questioning about the equality that is not happening as what has been predicted in the feminism’s goals for modern working woman.
“Do I believe in equality of the sexes? I’m not sure. I did once, with all the passionate certainty of someone very young who knew absolutely everything, and therefore nothing at all. It was a nice idea, equality; noble, indisputably fair. But how the hell what it supposed to work? They could give you good jobs and maternity leave, but until they programmed a man to notice you were out of toilet paper the project was doomed. Women carry the puzzle of family life in their heads, they just do. Every night on the way home from the City, I watch the women scurrying along in the Lucozade light of the street lamps, bags of shopping balancing briefcases, or twitching at bus stops like over-wound clockwork toys.” (190)
4.2.2 Female Identity Crisis
Referring to female identity crisis, Pearson portrays Kate Reddy as a postfeminist figure. At the beginning, according to feminism, speaking about women having an outside job is to shape equality between man and woman. Suddenly, the aim changed, feminism has placed so much emphasis on career and has not taken enough attention on marriage or motherhood. This has made woman experiences an identity crisis. As Kate Reddy has also experienced, she share her thought,
stress. Maybe it’s the only way we understand any more. Stress. Success. They even rhyme.” (93)
Moreover, the results of Kate being a breadwinner of the family, which also might experienced by the other women, are men today as a better father and woman as a worse mother.
“Men today can only be better fathers than their fathers. Simply by knowing how to change a nappy or figuring out which hole you stick the bottle in: these things mark them out as more capable parents than any previous generation. But women can only be worse mothers than our mothers and this rankles because we are working so very very hard and we are doomed to fail.” (271-272)
Another circumstance where Kate experienced her female identity crisis is when she was her half term visiting her family-in-law.
“All the elements of traditional English Xmas here: sausage rolls, carols, subtle recriminations. Mother-in-law busy preparing emergency food parcel for son neglected by callous City bitch (Me). You know that I always say I want to be with my children. Well, I really want to be with my children. Some nights, if I get home too late for Emily’s bedtime, I go to the laundry basket and I Smell Their Clothes. I miss them so much. Never told anyone that before. And then when I’m with them, like I am now, their need is just so needy. It’s like having a whole love affair crammed into a long weekend … Drained & freaked out & need to go back to work soonest for a rest. What kind of mother is afraid of her own children?” (52)
However, there are sacrificing actions as in the priority matters for working mothers. The feminism’s have-it-all seems that could not be realized as like what has been predicted. Moreover, since feminism has emphasized on career than personal life and domesticity. Kate Reddy, as a working mother who has it all, finally has her confusion about being a real mother for her children.
Once again we can see that Kate experience her instability principal of career woman with having children at home while she was celebrating her first-year-old son, Ben, with a handful of non-working mums in the room.
“There is an uneasy stand-off between the two kinds of mother which sometimes makes it hard for us to talk to each other. I suspect that the non-working mother looks at the non-working mother with envy because she thinks that the working mum has got away with it, and the working mum looks back with dear and envy because she knows that she has not. In order to keep going in either role, you have to convince yourself that the alternative is bad. The working mother says, because I am more fulfilled as a person I can be a better mother to my children. And sometimes she may even believe it. The mother who stays home knows that she is giving her kids an advantage, which is something to cling on to when you toddler has emptied his beaker of juice over your last clean T-shirt.” (100)
Pearson has made Kate Reddy to have a pro and against list of giving up work and live in the country. Deciding such problem for Kate Reddy as a modern working woman is not that easy. However, in her children has weighing a lot in her decision, despite of keeping her career path, she want to be a responsible mother.
She finds that she might have a better life after giving up work, but in the contrary, she just cannot give up her work. It is in her blood.
“Reasons to Give up Work & Go & Live in Country: (1) Better quality of life (2) Can buy mansion with en-suite minstrel’s gallery for cost of hackney heap (3) Chance to be real mother who has time to love husband, learn secret of children’s hearts and discover how buggly bloody raincover works. Reasons Not to Give up Work & Go & Live in Country: (1) Would go mad (2) See above (3) See above.” (136)
She finds that she might have a better life after giving up work, but in the contrary, she just cannot give up her work. It is in her blood.
would I be, left alone with the kids all day? The need of children is neverending … I think giving up work is like coming a missing person. One of the domestic Disappeared. The post offices of Britain should be full of Wanted posters for women who lost themselves in their children and were never seen again.” (176)
4.2.3 Focus on the Individual
Referring to focus on the individual, Pearson portrays Kate Reddy as a postfeminist figure. In the novel, Kate loves to reemphasize lifestyle choices and personal consumer pleasures. Money is not a matter for her.
Fay is a personal trainer hired to help me with my intensive New Year relaxation and exercise programme. I got her over the phone from Juno Academy of Health and Fitness. Not cheap, but I figure it will save me a lot if I can get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. Plus it must work out less expensive than joining gyms that I never have time to visit. (67)
Kate also loves to shop for her pleasures. “Fourteen minutes to spare before Rod and I have a meeting with consultants in Covent Garden, just off the piazza. Enough time to run into LK Bennett 50% Shoe Sale.” (119)
“I think I’ve forgotten how to shop for pleasure. No lingering foreplay for me, no harmless flirtation with chenille and silk before getting off with aloof linen or gorgeous, cuddly alpaca. These days, I shop like a locust: famished, ruinous, hovering up anything I need and things I definitely won’t need but deserve, anyway, because I never have time to go shopping. I grab a pair of fudge pencil heels— good for treading on Guy’s toes— and calf-length, Caramac-soft boots. As an afterthought, I pick up some black slingbacks patterned with so many punch-holes it looks like Braille for foot fetishists. Funny how two pairs of shoes feels extravagant, but three’s a bargain,” (119)
4.2.4 Revival of Traditional Femininities
Referring to the revival of traditional femininities, Pearson portrays Kate Reddy as a postfeminist figure.
we lose the capacity to shout it out loud. Wind it, wind it” (336). As we know that aspects in traditional femininities are return to men and motherhood and pursuit of domesticity. For all these reasons Kate has had her reasons to give up works. Kate’s reasons are:
“Reasons to Give up Works: (1) Because I have got two lives and I don’t have time to enjoy either of them (2) Because 24 hours are not enough (3) Because my children will be young for only a short time (4) Because one day I caught my husband looking at me the way my mother used to look at my father (5) Because becoming a man is a waste of a woman (6) Because I am too tired to think of another because.” (341)
Reason number one is return to domesticity, she prefer to have a better focused live as a mother for her family, since she has one. Reason number three is more about motherhood than domesticity, because the focus here she wants to be a good mother for her two kids. Reason number four is about return to men, she has her husband as her reason. Kate’s father in this case is a worse father ever for the family that is why Kate did not want her husband looking at her the way her mother used to look at her father.
While Kate was spending her afternoon with her daughter, Emily, playing at the local garden and watching Mary Poppins, she feels that it was the most profitable year to date.
38 CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter presents the result of this study. It is divided into two main sections. The first section of this chapter contains the conclusion of the analysis done in previous. The second section contains suggestions for future researchers and teachers through the implementations of literary work in language teaching.
5.1 Conclusions
Postfeminism is truly an interesting issue for me. Especially, because there are many theories regarding and questioning about postfeminism. Moreover, the emergence of postfeminism has brought some pro and against towards Second Wave feminism. I believe that despite of all the theories that against, postfeminism might be a great conceptual shift in feminism concerning about contemporary women today. Especially, to those who are working mothers who dedicates her life in actually nothing.
Therefore, the goals of this study are to reveal Kate Reddy’s character as in general literature view and as in postfeminist figure. After analyzing Kate Reddy’s character in I Don’t Know How She Does It, I will now give the conclusions regarding to the goals of the study.
solving her problems. She is also a tough and independent person. Even tough she sometimes moans about the things that were not right; still, in the end she solved her problems by herself. She rarely counts on everybody else to help her difficulties. Despite of all these, she also concerns about the way she look. She has the brain she has the style. She has a good knowledge of fashion. No wonder if her boss keeps her as the best woman employee in EMF. Momo Guaratme, her assistant, also adores her in the way she speaks, she thinks, she behaves and dress. Her concern to appear sophisticated has amused everyone. She is indeed a sophisticated person.
As we know, that everything has its yin and yang aspects. After all those Kate Reddy’s character that is pleasing and causing interest, she also has her common human frailties. Even tough, because of her smartness she sometimes exploits her weaknesses as possible. The way she always manages to do her work as neat as possible sometimes does not make any senses. She forces herself to do the perfect job to achieve the perfect results without contextualize her abilities. In the end, this idealistic character is some kind of boomerang for her life. Obviously, regarding the way she desires of her work has shown that she is also a workaholic person. She is also a planner. She almost plans the whole things in her agenda. It seems that she has her passion to write all of her plans in details. Eventually, she rarely does her life to-do-list.
postfeminism is the general rejection to the Second Wave feminism. Kate Reddy rejects the notion results of feminism, especially with the term to ‘have it all’. She found that she is actually cannot really apply the term in her life. She suffers even more by raising her children while she has to focus on her work, not to mention that her neglecting husband cannot has enough responsibilities at home.
The second characteristic of postfeminism is the female identity crisis. Kate Reddy has not prepared for the roles as a woman. As Grant (25) mentioned that “as feminism has promised woman a stronger ability of her own identity,” feminism has also “given her little time more than an identity crisis,” (my italics). Kate Reddy has a stronger ability as a working woman; despite of that she has her identity crisis as a mother and a wife. Therefore, for this reason Kate Reddy suffers the real meaning of being a woman.
The third characteristic is focus on the individual. Focus in the individual here is emphasized on the term ‘for personal pleasures’. As we have noticed that previously we have found that Kate Reddy is a sophisticated person. Therefore, this postfeminism characteristic will just match her character. She loves to spend her money as her lifestyles. Because she has a great amount of working income, she found that money is just a fulfillment for her.
gateway as her troubleshoots. She found that she has to make the right choice for her life. The right choice for her life is leaving her work and back to the traditional femininity, that are: being a good mother for her children and getting her husband back to her life.
5.2 Suggestions
In this part, I will give suggestions for the future researchers and the implementation of literary work in language teaching using the novel I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson.
5.2.1 Suggestions for Future Researchers
Actually, there are many aspects about what I have been studied to be explored for future researchers. First, future researchers may explore the novel by using other approaches rather than ‘gender studies’. Second, future researchers may analyze other aspects than postfeminism in the novel, e.g. Kate Reddy’s motivations. Third, future researchers also may have a deeper analyze about postfeminism in Kate Reddy’s character or postfeminism in the novel I Don’t Know How She Does It. Or even, future researchers might use postfeminism with other chick lit novel or else. I believe there will be many more interesting and changeling ideas to be explored.
5.2.2 Suggestion for Teachers in the Implementation of Teaching Reading Using Literary Work
reading is one of the four basic language skills. According to Nunan reading is the most important skill to master for learners of English as a second language (69). Nunan has also mentioned, “With strengthened reading skills, learners will make greater progress and development in all other areas of learning” (69).
Harmer in The Practice of English Language Teaching has divide reading into two, they are extensive reading and intensive reading (283). For this, I will choose intensive reading as the implementation, for this reason I believe that it is better to focus on the brief explanation on intensive reading.
According to Harmer, intensive reading is designed to enable students to develop specific receptive skills such as reading for gist (or general understanding—skimming), reading for specific information (scanning), reading for detailed comprehension (what is ‘behind’ the words) and attitude (283). In addition, according to Nunan, intensive reading involves a short reading passage followed by textbook activities to develop comprehension and/or a particular reading skill (71).
circumstance. In feedback organizer, the teacher should lead a feedback session to check that they have completed successfully after they completed the task. Last, in prompter, teachers can prompt the students to notice language features within it after the students have read the text.
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APPENDIX 1
AN INTERVIEW WITH AND A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF ALLISON PEARSON
Allison Pearson, named Critic of the Year and Interviewer of the Year in the British Press Awards, is a weekly columnist in the London Evening Standard and a member of the BBC’s News Night Review panel. She lives in London with her husband, the New Yorker writer Anthony Lane, and their two children.
Allison Pearson's debut novel, I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT, introduces readers to Kate Reddy, a working mother with a schedule very few people would envy. In this interview, Allison Pearson talks about her reasons for writing the novel, the various issues addressed, and some of her favourite “Kate Reddy moments.”
Q: This is your first novel. What made you decide to write it?
I read a Stress Survey in Good Housekeeping magazine two years ago. It said that all that most working women wanted for Mother's Day was a bit of time to them. It also said they were too tired to have sex with their husbands and felt they were failing both at work and as a parent. I thought about my life and the lives of my friends with young children and I realized we were all being driven crazy by the pressure we were under juggling work and family. I thought it was a great subject—borderline farce, but full of incredibly poignant moments as you find yourself torn between responsibility to your children and the office. I wrote an article about working mothers in my opinion column in the London Evening Standard and I got literally hundreds of letters from women, all saying: That’s My Life! It felt as though I’d opened a small door onto a parallel world and on the other side was this huge amount of unacknowledged feeling.
heard this dark, bitter laugh in my own head. It was Kate Reddy laughing. She didn’t have a name back then, but I knew she had a terrific sense of humour. Soon after, I began a weekly column in the London Daily Telegraph describing Kate’s adventures at work and at home. I’d like to say that I created her, but very soon she took over and wrote me, rather than me writing her!
Q: A new book about fertility and working mothers has startled American women making the cover of Time magazine this spring. (It is called, CREATING A LIFE: Professional Women and the Quest for Children by Sylvia Ann Hewlett.) Is it surprising to you that women might “miss” the chance to have children because they are so preoccupied with career-success?
It doesn't surprise me at all. The mothers I interviewed when I was researching my book all said that in order to be successful in their careers, they needed to hide the fact that they had kids—one woman actually said her firm would be more forgiving if you were caught in possession of crack cocaine than children! Most of the women went to great lengths to hide the fact they had kids—never displaying photographs, never mentioning any childcare problems, always making a Man's Excuse if they were late—i.e., trouble with the car or the traffic rather than a sick baby.
Because the corporate culture is hostile to mothers who are deemed to Lack Commitment, there is no good time for a young ambitious person to have a baby so she postpones it and postpones it, always thinking it might get easier later on and it never does, and then it's too late, which I think is a tragedy. One of the themes of I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT is the miraculous love that babies bring with them, how they change your heart. The idea that women have missed out on that miracle because they felt that their employers wouldn’t tolerate it makes me feel incredibly sad.
Q: What do you recommend to working mothers who for financial or personal reasons want it all—to move up the corporate ladder AND have hands on care of their children?
I think that many mothers who work need to work—either for personal fulfilments or just to pay all those bills! But I don’t think that you can move up the corporate ladder and have hands-on care of the children—how can you? With the long hours demanded, you will be lucky if you make it home for bath—and bedtime. Most of the women I spoke to favoured some kind of flexible working where they could be home more and then work, often late into the night. I only wish that more businesses felt they could let women do that—it would be productive for all concerned. And humane too!
