I was raised in a time so far removed from the 1800s' pillars of the cult of "true womanhood" that growing up I truly believed it was shameful for a woman or mother to not work. If she were at home, either as a homemaker or mother (or more than likely both), she should still be able to "pull her weight" and be employed too. I don't know exactly why I have been so hard on other women throughout my life, but another of the many things motherhood has taught me is that I was part of the problem. Meaning, I was part of this whole culture that devalues anything feminine and encourages women to "act like men" in order to be successful. There was a very recent time when I bought into that old-timey concept that woman equals inferior unless she can be a man... and a woman too, of course. Because she's not really a man, after all. She's less than a man - her only chance at success is to act enough like a man that in some moments other men forget...