Recently I've been coming across a lot of articles and information about women and the economy, women in the work force, gender and career, etc. This, paired with my own imminent expulsion into adulthood and the job market, has prompted a lot of thought about my ultimate career. Teaching at the college level, doing research and writing, giving time and energy to the development of women's organizations, even becoming a professional blogger appealed to me. But what if I was financially secure, somehow set for life and supporting a family (i.e., money) was not the object of a career? If that were the case, I would certainly be a femivore.
I stole the term from a recent New York Times Magazine article about a subculture of women in the Berkeley area that maintain vegetable gardens, raise small livestock such as chickens and rabbits, make their family's soap and sew their family's clothes. They make all of their meals from scratch and learn about herbal remedies for their family's ailments. They provide a holistic life of healthy, sustainable habits for their families, their communities, and themselves.
The femivore uses her autonomy and intelligence to refuse specific commodities, whether they are unhealthy, unethical, or unfulfilling, and to rely on her own strenghts and capabilities to provide for her family. She reduces her family's carbon footprint and increases their health and well-being. She shows her love for her family, whatever form that family takes, through her nurturing, careful, and conscious actions.
The femivore is also a political activist, but on the microlevel. Not only does she utilize her agency within the process of sustaining the family the unit, but through community outreach, including volunteer work, political service and any act that serves to produce a more safe, welcoming, and supportive community. Whether I end up performing this last function through contributing to scholarly articles, volunteering at a women's shelter, or providing free or low-cost child care in my neighborhood, I am still performing feminist works. And if I can perform these feminist works through the betterment of my husband's, my children's, and my own lives, then I would ultimately choose that route.
In the meantime, I still have to pay the bills, and I would like to pay those bills with money that I earn doing what I love. I'm in the midst of researching for graduate programs and I'm enjoying considering careers in development for a women's organizations or doing research for a book. Or maybe campaigning to put women's studies into high school curricula. While economic realities will more than likely force both my husband and myself into the work force, thwarting my hippie feminist homemaker daydream, at least I will be able to say that I'm doing as much good as possible.
