Like you, Joan, I see the impact in my family, but more so on my children at this point. My oldest girl owns a contracting company. She mothers 3 children from her husbands previous marriage and 2 others have already left home. My granddaughter who has left home believed going to college was necessary and is happy to be achieving that goal. My grandson didn’t think college was necessary and has now, 4 years later, determine a goal he would like to achieve that necessitates college. My son can’t understand why any woman wouldn’t want to work or why either person of the couple would hesitate to pick up their 50% of couple chores. Both he and his spouse interact with the children constantly, which includes the dirty business of diapering.

What I think? It means that there are fewer home cooked meals. It is well known that fast food will make a person fat. So there is an opening available for a take out chain restaurant/fast serve that would make available single size portion servings of home-style cooked meals.

It also opens the opportunity for earlier childhood schooling. In France the school begins very young. This opens the way to teach socialization and early but necessary skills to children. I believe that by acclimating a child to school very young our society there will be far less drop-outs later on. I hope the USA takes this opportunity to invest in its children.

There is also an opening available for child care between 3 months and 3 years and child care professionals. All parents should have the right to stay home with their infant for at least 6 weeks and if both parents take this opportunity then there is a period of 3 months before outsourcing child care begins. This should be removed from private homes and licensed federal and state guidelines and licensing should be mandated. It should also be offered to full-time working parents based on sliding scale.

Nostalgia is a charming dream but I hope women never opt to go back. Women change the society when they are in the work force. In France I see the changes every time I step out my door. While not all are good, there persists the belief that change can be made and everyone is responsible for helping to make they changes they feel are necessary. When I return for my visits to the US I see apathy nearly everywhere. Even before I moved to France nearly a decade ago, I was astounded by the resignation to accept nearly anything. People at my work place would not dare to refuse to work overtime for fear they would lose their jobs, they came to work when they were very ill for that fear, and if they were injured on the job they were hush-hush about it. While Americans seem to believe that can impact the government they don’t seem to understand that they can also impact the culture they live and work in. There is no such illusion in France. 

Women may have come a long way in some career choices but there are still barriers to break. That won’t happen until there is adequate quality childcare and support at home. Working women juggle full schedules on the job then come home to do the majority of house work, cooking and childcare. That homecare often dictates her acceptance of a better position at work if it leaves less time to nurture her children.

It would be nice to think women will build on past successes.  But it’s more likely a sense of complacency will set in and the whole process will suffer from a two-steps-forward, one-step-backward approach.  Talk about a women s movement now and you’ll get a glassey eyed stare and comments like "wasn’t that over in the nineties?" will pop up in some circles.  Take a look at your typical toy store.  There is still such a difference between the boy toys and girl toys.  The pink aisles stress makeup, princess accessorizing,  arts and crafts, Barbies, Bratz, unicorns, butterflys and mermaids.  Other areas have building toys, magnetic toys, Radio Controlled remote helicopters, all terrain vehicles, dinosaurs and action figures, Nerf shooting launchers and plastic swords complete with sound effects.  I’d love to see more boy toys that stress a bit more nurturing and some girl toys that stress a bit more thinking.

It simply means more choices. For both sexes really. I can see a time when it won’t be nearly as stigmatized for men to choose to stay home and parent if they can and want to. The few men i’ve known in my life who have done that are very much marginalized. When the men from my husband’s generation have completely given over power to younger people… some of those stigmas’s and barriers will change on both sides of the coin. By the time my grandchildren are in their prime earning and power stages the world will look a lot different in terms of gender. I think frankly that the power base is going to be much more even and possibly even a tad heavier on the female side.

I recently read an a business article about a 22 year old woman who owns her own small soup/sandwich restaurant business and is expanding, even in this economy. There are two 24 year olds who have their own boutique… and they are expanding.  My cousin’s daughter worked for a dog groomer while going to college.  She is now 26 and with her own business. 

I believe we will see more young women like these who don’t want to spend years moving up the corporate ladder.  They want to be at the top. Our universities have more women students than men now; we will see women branching out in avenues other than the present career opportunities in health care and education. 

Where does that leave family? Many young women are opting not to have children. Others will do what women have always done, try to juggle work and family as best they can.  Others ,like the dog groomer, will build careers around family.  That young woman closes her business at 4:00 each day so she can be home with her two young children after school.

I think Joan Ganz Cooney hit the nail on the head. Young women today DO believe they can have it all. They are not hindered in anyway by the roadblocks that were put in place for my generation in regard to choosing "this or that" - they now see they can be a business woman, mother, wife and social activist all at once, if they want.

And I believe it has everything to do with today’s society and our need to do more, cram more into a 24 hour window of time, that they have seen it can be done. My only concern is (based on what I have read from various posts by younger women on this site and others) is the hypocrisy in their view of feminism.

There is this knee jerk reaction to speak of independence, not being reliant on any man, wanting to be seen as equals in every way, treated as an equal - yet on the other hand feel women are the weaker sex and therefore a man should never hit one, even if provoked, and should not serve in combat because they aren’t as strong as men, and even on the issue of Letterman and the affair, have the attitude "surely it is a man of power influencing a younger woman" As if to say she couldn’t possibly had been attracted to him, it had to be because of his position. And on a recent WoW thread there were several women actually encouraging others to refrain from filing a complaint against a co-worker who was sexually inappropriate for fear that you could lose your job. What?

But overall I feel good about the young women that are up and coming. They have the opportunities and the co-hones to go for it.

My hope is that young women of today will feel more empowered than ever to break down remaining stereotypes, push ahead with their dreams, and be free from some of the remaining restraints that women still struggle with today. We HAVE come a long, long way. But we still need equal pay for equal work; we still need to burst through the many glass ceilings that remain; we still need more sharing of parenting responsibilities from our partners; and we still need to keep the drive toward excellence and away from complacency going at full speed. This is what I hope the Shriver Report will enhance. Young women all over this country are already benefiting from the work of women who came before them - and this report should encourage them to continue that work, and to keep striving toward their goals. Oh - and let’s add one more thing: let’s hope the report will support BIG DREAMS! The bigger the dream, the more there is to gain in making it a reality.

My life was so very different from my Mothers and my Daughters life is very different from mine.  In my Mom’s golden days joining the Military was a no no, women stayed home and took care of the husband, kiddies, and the house.  They had BUSY WORK, they only went to work if they divorced or the husband couldn’t work for some reason. 

My generation was handed a huge pot and were told we could do whatever we worked for, and slowly that pot is getting full.  But I don’t think it’ll ever be EQUAL, men vs women.

College in my Mom’s day was to snag a husband and then they quit, my generation went to college to learn and try to get away from Mrs. Cleaver. My daughters generation is going to college, working to obtain their goals and hopefully all their dreams.

BUT and it’s a big BUT, Women are still expected to take care of the house (in most cases all by themselves), work, and be the major general in child rearing.

Don’t get me wrong, some stay at home dads really enjoy being the primary care giver to the family and let mom work, and it works.  Most times it’s not like that.

We’ve seen a lot of changes in the last 100 yrs, for women, people of different races, but more changes need to be made.

I hope in my life time we see a Woman President, I’m so proud of my fellow Americans who finally realized that being black doesn’t mean you can’t obtain your dreams, there are too many to list, but three come to mind and I admire these people before they became Ultra Famous, Whoopi, Oprah, and President Obama.

Keep working gals and will get equal everywhere it is needed at some point in human evolution.

Mr. Smith, She is one of a handful of FEMALE’s who has achieved what so many others have tried ( be she black, white, or brown skin).  Most Americans (especially in low to middle income) don’t really get into politics, they get their news from shows like Oprah, The View, these are Women they relate to.  Not everyone gives a hoot about politicians, only about the state this country is in or could be in at the hands of Politicians. Everytime you turn around another Politican is being busted for cheating, lying, or excepting gifts he/she shouldn’t and personally I’m sick to death hearing about politicans and the problems they cause for themselves and for the people their suppose to represent.

I’m an educated woman who worked in and around DC most of my adult life, I care about the polices that are changing our country, but if I had a choice of who’d I’d like to have over to dinner, it wouldn’t be Ms. Rice, because she is above the everyday American Woman in very many ways. Her educations, the jobs she’s held, the policies she’s helped get past, most females can’t relate to her (those in the low to mid income bracket).

She is a role model for our daughters for sure, but I grew up knowing that I couldn’t be the President, that I would never earn more then my male counter part, that this is a country who’s ideals and rules, and structure were and are that of MEN.

Mr. Smith because I admire Whoopi and Oprah for all they have done for the people in this country and around the world, makes them someone I can look up to. Oprah has helped children all over this WORLD, not just in America, so how can I not admire her, there doing things for everyone, not just a selected few.

Both of them grew up in a world that didn’t except them but they made sure their star would shine and they would acomplish their dreams and goals, neither of these ladies had it handed to them.  Ms. Rice is ivy league which puts her out of reach to many Americans, these other women like so many of us WORKED their butts off to get where they are today.

Mr. Smith not being a woman you have no idea how hard it’s been for women in America period.  To this day we are the House keeper, bearer of Children, Working Mom, Wife, all in one package, a man is a man and possibly a father. 

For our daughters and/or granddaughers you ask? Who knows? The effect of male domination won’t change things in the next two generations, that’s for sure. Just look at what still occupies all the tv-slots and every weekend, and Mondays in the fall. It’s all miliary - men in suits, and in "combat."