Everybody knows that women do the grocery shopping
Today Stephen Harper fumbled the answer to a question posed by a Vancouver radio show host about the price of milk or eggs. Harper guessed $3 each. The excuse he gave for not knowing the answer? Well because his wife does the grocery shopping, of course.
Now before I jump to characterize the Harper household as one where the husband plays politician and party leader while the wife does all things domestic, perhaps it's possible that their household roles break down along historical gender lines only in this one instance.
But even then I find it shocking that even if his wife is responsible for the groceries, Harper has never had to stop at a grocery store on the way home from work to grab a carton of milk.
So whereas I refrain from commenting on the way that they as a couple choose to divide their household responsibilities (sometimes I have a habit of turning into one of those CRAZY feminists who horrify Harper with their expectations of equality under the Charter http://bushincanada.blogspot.com/) Harper at least deserves some ribbing due to the fact he LOVES to portray himself as the man-of-the-people-populist yet doesn't seem to have been in a grocery store in years.
Now before I jump to characterize the Harper household as one where the husband plays politician and party leader while the wife does all things domestic, perhaps it's possible that their household roles break down along historical gender lines only in this one instance.
But even then I find it shocking that even if his wife is responsible for the groceries, Harper has never had to stop at a grocery store on the way home from work to grab a carton of milk.
So whereas I refrain from commenting on the way that they as a couple choose to divide their household responsibilities (sometimes I have a habit of turning into one of those CRAZY feminists who horrify Harper with their expectations of equality under the Charter http://bushincanada.blogspot.com/) Harper at least deserves some ribbing due to the fact he LOVES to portray himself as the man-of-the-people-populist yet doesn't seem to have been in a grocery store in years.
par / by Anonymous à / at 3:35 p.m.
4 Commentaires:
ha, and vancouver prices are more expensive for eggs and poultry compared to here in quebec thanks to the bird flu issues last year. what a populist...! *eyeroll* maybe ms. teskey is buying organic. or maybe he has his chauffeur or personal assistants pick up the milk. because all ordinary canadians, as you must know, have chauffeurs, personal assitants, policy advisors, and speechwriters to help them compose fitting remarks to bestow on the person at the cash when they come into contact with a lowly retail salesperson. maybe he just goes to stores to put shiny blue 5% signs on registers?
plus he makes at least $144 grand a year (the base MP salary), and then whatever else they see fit to give him as official opposition leader. that's more than some doctors make and more than a lot of other professional people make... even more than the $90,000 "middle class" benchmark that stephen harper has set for the "average" canadian, while the real average salary is about a third of that. seriously, this guy lives in an alternate universe and i'm not surprised that people have pointed out that he has difficulty with connecting with canadians personally.
Harper's been an MP, leader of political aprty, or leader of a major national lobby group for more than a decade. How many times would he have stopped?
In any case, those don't sound like particularly wild guesses. I mean, what is a gallon of milk these days - $3.79 or so? Eggs, a few bucks. I don't know. I don't look too closely at prices either on those kind of things. If I need them, I need them.
In any case, what is the point of this exercise? Harper's far more of a middle class individual, in circumstances and habits, than mutli-millionarie Paul Martin, who had his fortune more or less handed to him by Paul Demarisas, who is apparently the shadow Prime Minister of Canada.
Actually, of all four leaders, the household where the "husband plays politician and party leader while the wife does all things domestic" applies most accurately is the Martins.
In any case, though I'll note the validity of what the other Adam had to say, I don't see the point of this.
Suppose that Harper doesn't do the shopping for the family and, further, that his wife does all of the shopping. Is there something particularly wrong with that? He's a busy man, after all. He's the leader of the Opposition (and has been for nearly four years now) and a would-be Prime Minister. Perhaps he has a tradtional marriage. I have no idea. Nor do I think it's particularly anyone's business. But, for the sake of argument, let's say he does. Is it now to be suggested that not only are "alternative" family arrangement acceptable, but that the traditional family is now to be made an object of active disdain?
If anything, I'm encouraged by this. One of the best signs that Joe Clark would be a feckless and incompetent dolt was that he was married to Maureen "In My Own Name" McTeer, radiclib and ultra-feminist.
In general (and I'd apply this to both male and female leaders - by any reasonable account Margaret Thatcher was the dominant force in her household) it's not unreasonable to think that someone who is unable to command their own home is going to be unable to command a country.
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