A Quick Note About My Old Friend Linda Hirshman

About a year ago, I ended up in a weird blogosphere spat with noted feminist Linda Hirshman (over whether today's men really are pulling their own weight). Hirshman has been on the radar screen again this week, with a Washington Post op-ed and a Post chat that have sparked a good deal of debate on the central question of how best to promote feminism.

During her chat, she lets loose with this:

... the heterosexual reproductive family is a fount in inequality. I think motherhood and family should be a central concern of feminism, starting with insisting that men shape their lives with the expectation that they will bear half the burden of child rearing and home making forever. Now there's a family value I can support without cavil.

I don't know if I've mellowed in the last year or if this is just phrased differently, I am 100 percent behind her sentiment. I think everyone ought to start with the assumption that half of the kid duty will fall to dad.