I stumbled across this article about this Japanese tennis player named Kimiko Date Krumm while looking for interesting articles about women in sport. Krumm recently became the oldest WTA winner since Billie Jean King. She is 39 and won this title after taking a 12 year gap in her career. I was very happy to read about this, until I reached the end where Krumm said that she would be retiring soon because she is married and wants to have children. Her exact quote was " "I think I won't have any problem in my physical strength over the next five years. But I'm married ... have to have kids and have a lot of things to do," she said. "I think I can play tennis for the next two years." " I was bothered by Krumm's quote because she says that she has no physical inability to hinder her from competing, but that she would want to give up her career just because she is married. While I understand her motives for retiring early, I wish they were different. I feel as though many women feel compelled to give up their careers and talents once they get married and have children, while it is typical of men to keep their careers and be the breadwinners. Even in the video that we watched in the class featuring Babe Didrikson, one can see the feminine changes in her appearance she made after getting married. Although she still kept her career, she felt the need to change herself after getting married. It bothers me to see women who have so much going for them, give it all up because of the idea that women should be the one to stay home and raise children. I recently read a Forbes article praising women in power who have managed to excel in their careers while still having a family. Most men in the Forbes top lists are married with children, but it is rare enough to see women doing the same that they had to write an article on it. I hope that one day it will be the standard to have women in power with a home life, not the exception.
Article: http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Sep27/0,4670,TENKoreaOpen,00.html
Charlene Chang
KIN 338-01
T Th 9:30-10:45 AM
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Bernice Embry Id# 006286902
Kerrie Kauer
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I don’t think she is giving up her career to be a stay home mom so to speak. I feel she is making the right choice by taking time off to build a family. It might become stressful and unpleasant if she were to balance raising children and playing golf at her age. I don’t think she is trying to change herself, she just feels that it is now time to settle down. People retire everyday, regardless of their sex. She may also know that even if she were to keep her career she would be away a lot and therefore not be able to spend as much time with her family that she would like to.
Yea in society men are thought to be the breadwinners and women are thought to be the nurtures that stay home and take of the house, but I think this is different. There are families in today’s society that have children being raised by nannies and other family members because the parents spend to much time working. She knows this and doesn’t want her children to have to wonder why they never get to see their mother during the season. Who knows she might return to playing tennis when her kids are old enough. So instead of thinking that she is giving up her dreams to fall into the social standards society places on women, one may look at her decision to have a family as a beautiful thing. She can even teach her children how to play and then continue her legacy as a great tennis player.
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