Grrrr

[dancerjodi]

From Forbes (thanks Aidenraine!), why you shouldn't marry a career woman (a slide show):
http://www.forbes.com/2006/07/25/cx_mn_singles06_destined_misery_slide.html?boxes=popslide&boxes=custom

I hate how people rely so much on statistics. I'm a data analyst, and *I* know that the majority <> all people. I also know that different things work for different people, and some men may like their messier house, or may not want to have kids, or whatever other situation contradicts what Forbes is trying to say.

I'm not a Forbes reader, but I always thought them to be a more professional type of magazine (I'd expect some conservatism and disregard for gay relationships, but I was still kind of shocked to see this on their site). I know they site various studies in this slideshow and all, but this is really, really a case of 'massaging the numbers' to support your own ideals. It also kind of downplays the joy that can come from a marriage that goes far beyond keeping house and breeding.

Grrr!

Comments

I shake my fist ineffectually at the lot of them

[mistressbellona.livejournal.com]

I'm not usually one to pick up the feminist flag, but this is ridiculous!

There are FAR too many possible, plausible factors underlying these conclusions for them to be meaningful. Given that this slide show was pieced together from multiple sources, it just makes me wonder exactly how many dimensions of marital life each of these sets of statisticians measured in coming up with their conclusions.

For instance, if a woman works more than 40 hours per week and does 1.9 hours less of housework herself, is she more likely to hire a cleaning service? All that overtime pay has to go somewhere.

Or if they're going to say that these women are 1.75 %/times (the article didn't show a label on the 1.75) more likely to cheat on their husbands, I firstly want to know how they sampled randomly for their respondents, and secondly what else they asked in this regard. Are the husbands impotent? Do they have some sort of arrangement (which is getting more common, or at least more acceptable, these days) whereby they can have multiple partners without it causing significant marital turmoil? In terms of sampling, did they puts ads to call about the survey in places where women who were likely to be cheating would be (for instance, bar/club restrooms or restaurants in/near major commercial districts)? You don't just do a random phone survey and say, "Hi. We're calling on behalf of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. Have you ever cheated on your husband?"

And what's with the 1950's expectations of women coming home, putting on an apron (with their heels and pearls, of course), making their husbands chicken soup and dusting? Whatever happened to those concepts of equality where maybe, just maybe, a division of tasks would not be solely based on gender but on the availability and skills of those performing them?

Whichever Forbes editor(s) agreed to let this into their magazine should be fired, sued and bitch-slapped for publishing this kind of crap.