- Linda Hirshman
Linda Redlick Hirshman (born
April 26 ,1944 inCleveland, Ohio ) is alawyer ,feminist , and theauthor of "The Woman's Guide to Law School" and "Hard Bargains: The Politics of Sex". She is a retired Distinguishedprofessor ofPhilosophy andWomen's Studies atBrandeis University . She holds a law degree from theUniversity of Chicago and a Ph.D. in philosophy. She has written for a variety of periodicals, including Glamour, Tikkun,Ms. , the ABA Journal, and theBoston Globe .Body of work
In 2006, Hirshman released "Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World" [ [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670038121 "Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World"] - Amazon listing] in which she re-iterated her arguments in favor of women demanding that their husbands participate in raising their children, and addressed some of the criticism of her earlier work that she found on the Internet.
Criticism
As Hirshman's own biographical byline for periodicals proudly states, she "landed spot No. 77" on Bernard Goldberg's list of "
100 People Who Are Screwing Up America " "with almost no effort." Goldberg criticized Hirshman for comments she made in a segment produced byLesley Stahl on "60 Minutes " in October of 2004. Hirshman's comments involved young, well-educated women who chose to give up high-paying, high-powered, and prestigious jobs in order to stay home and take care of their children. In the segment, Hirshman argued that this kind of decision would only lead to a lesser life for these women- "These women are choosing lives in which they do not use their capacity for very complicated work, they're choosing lives in which they do not use their capacity to deal with very powerful other adults in the world, which takes a lot of skill. I think there are better lives and worse lives."Goldberg criticizes her for these remarks, arguing that Hirshman is a perfect example of a condescending old-fashioned radical feminist.
Hirshman was also criticized by feminist bloggers such as Leslie Morgan Steiner [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Morgan_Steiner] and economists such as
Heather Boushey for having an insufficient empirical evidence for her contention thatwomen were dropping out of the U.S.labor market , [ [http://www.cepr.net/publications/opt_out_2005_11.pdf "Are Women Opting Out? Debunking the Myth] - CEPR, December 2005] a charge which Hirshman says does not change her conclusions. [ [http://insidehighered.com/views/2005/12/09/hirshman "Is Your Husband a Worse Problem Than Larry Summers?"] - Inside Higher Ed, 12/9/05]References
External links
* [http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/13217 Video interview/discussion] with
Michelle Goldberg onBloggingheads.tv
* [http://www.gettoworkmanifesto.com/ GetToWorkManifesto.com] , Hirschman's official website
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