Cartier Bracelets and Nannies aside, I felt like I really recognized the feelings of the women in article if not their situations.
This is the one that stuck with me: "but the reality of my life is I live in the suburbs and haven’t taken a day off in two years. I get up at 6 a.m., and I work until she wakes up, then I do breakfast and get her ready, then the nanny comes, I work all day, I relieve the nanny, and then get back on my computer and work until midnight after my daughter goes to sleep. I do that every day,” she says. “And it’s still not enough."
If you swap out nanny for public school or daycare, then this is the life of so many people I know. And it is tied up with the pandemic, and lack of childcare options, and moving away from your support networks to get the jobs.
As ridiculous as the article feels, I find the discourse that has sprung up around it to be really interesting:
Anne Helen Petersen looped it to a study on how different classes feel about parenting.
One of my favorite authors commented "did they think that because they were women...the issues of like, idk, Post-War American fiction about the dangers of bourgeois life did not...apply to them? Or what? Like???" - but like - Yes! I think so! I think meritocracy and the 90s really f*cked with a generation.
And another piece by someone who seemed to be resonating with the article in the same way I did talked about first generation UMC white collar women who, beyond supporting themselves and their kids, are also supporting their extended families and standing as the class bridge for loved ones.
Anyways - I enjoy the discourse, clutch my pearls at the Cartier, and appreciate that art is doing its job and spurring these conversations.