Home Economics

/ National Archives, Records of the Extension Service

Two government nutritionists explain the merits of their dairy dessert. One of the few science jobs available to women in the 1950s was in the field of home economics. (Retrieved from NPR)

According to Motherly, some Stay-at-Home-Moms (SAHMs) would be salaried at $184K/year if they were paid for all that they do. Investopedia asked, "How Much Is a Stay-at-Home Parent Worth?" and placed the "median annual salary of $178,201" with a footnote from Salary that appears to be a periodically updated article, asking the more blunt question: "How Much Is a Mother Really Worth?"

In 2019, that number was $178,201, which is what Investopedia used as its number in an article for 2021. So Motherly's article appears to provide an increase from 2019 that isn't present in Investopedia's article. I suspect something to do with more focus on stay-home parents since Dads began engaging more active parenting in recent years. The pandemic has also very likely shined a spotlight on the realities of parenting and working from home ever since Covid came to town.

Anyway...

...a SAHM would be salaried today, if she were paid for all that she does...roughly $184K per year.

I wonder about this from time to time for various reasons, and I just chuckle to myself about it. Mostly.

Recently, though, I got to thinking more deeply about something else that is connected with this topic, and a couple of memories were jogged.

I had a relative who graduated from a women's college in the 1950s with a degree in Home Economics. For some reason, I never stopped and actually thought about that. It never occurred to me that how I understood "home economics" (in my own experience in the 1980s, middle school) had exactly nothing to do with her experience with the subject- academically, professionally, or personally.

By the time I was in junior high, Home Ec was viewed by me and many of my peers as largely outdated with ideas that were cute if you liked Holly Hobby, but otherwise part of a bygone era that played no direct role in our lives. 

The Betty Crocker Kitchens 1940 (Retrieved from Finding Betty Crocker)

 

Some of us would learn faster than others just how important Home Economics actually is out here in the so-called real world. Sadly, I haven't seen a Home Economics class offered for any of my own kids, two of whom are adults now.

But even having (gratefully) learned the fundamentals from a parent of an earlier era than my mom, I had the very basics to start with -- which mattered because I was on my own at 17. Later, I would live for a spell with my grandmother (who was a few years older than my dad), and she added a few interesting elements of home economics I'd never learned in any classroom. All of which I've tried passing on to all of my kids.

Over the years, I developed connections with people related by way of my own family or by marriage -- some relations more distant than others, and I would learn about family histories that were interesting in their own right.

Such as a relative having a college degree from a women's college in mid-20th century America, mid-1950s no less, post-WWII era with a degree in Home Economics.

By the time it occurred to me to ask about it, I realized, she was long since dead. I'm grateful for every connection offered, because home economics in practice is really a set of very important human adult survival skills. 

Gratitude, though, no matter how sincerely felt, doesn't satisfy the curiosity about what all would even be in a Home Economics academic program in the 1950s in the United States.

Digging around, I came across an interesting essay from 2010, KU ScholarWorks, by Julia Barnard - Home Economics and “Housewifery” in 1950s America - and I just sort of sat in wonder. The essay is written around and focused on a Centron film about "Why Study Home Economics" from 1955 in Lawrence, Kansas. The essay is not long, definitely worth the read in its entirety. 

These bits stood out to me:

"...This curriculum reflects the larger socio-cultural context in which Home Economics, a unique subject taught almost exclusively to female students was situated in the 1950s. [...] Home Economics classrooms became an important site of much of the explicit and implicit advertising that contributed to the way American eating habits and the structure of the food industry changed in the 1950s. These classrooms were important in changing and shaping the minds of young American women. They combine ideas about gender roles with technical points about food preparation and marketers’ interests in affirming a society increasingly influenced by agents of mass consumption. 

Not only were corporate interests being served by the particular contents of the Home Economics curricula, but cultural values both old and new were also an element in the new, post-war Home Economics setting, serving as a sort of hidden element of the curriculum in these classrooms...

[...] 

...Terms like “Domestic Science” and “Home Economics” helped to frame the study of cooking and buying as an academic discipline, full of skills worth learning and studying. This series of conferences, and later the entire discipline of Home Economics, was founded on the idea that consumer culture was something one could be educated in. Home Economics was the study of consumption: how to buy, where to buy, what to buy, and also what to eat, where to eat, when to eat, and who to eat with..."

 
...and not paid for.

Evidently, despite its overwhelming importance, seemingly, to society, such that it was written into our entire culture, our upbringings, our educations -- it was not deemed important or relevant enough to be paid for. 

For the woman of that era, she could be educated, with a degree in something she was told she had to know...placed uniquely as one of the few science degrees allowed to women at the time...

...but not get paid for the work her conferred degree intended.

I'm not shocked by this anymore. I knew about this from other books that cover what part of the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1960s focused on, and that was the fact they thought their own moms should be paid for what they do. It was part of some of my previous research, while still fairly brand-new to anything involving stay-home parenting, since the entirety of my career had previously been outside the home.

I just hadn't read about specific curricula or syllabi for a Home Economics degree and I was curious.

/ U.S. National Archives, Records of the Office of Government Reports

There are seven food groups listed in this 1943 USDA nutrition chart. Americans were encouraged to eat well as part of their patriotic duty to stay strong during wartime.

The above image from the same NPR article linked at the very top of this entry. The article discusses elements of "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam? The Government's Effect on the American Diet" - a National Archives exhibit that goes into the government's effect on the American diet, tracing back a couple of centuries.

During the 1950s (when my mother was a toddler and my grandmother was younger than I am now), much of the focus was a blend of post-Depression and recent ending of WWII. The hardships of post WWI and the Depression weren't ancient history. WWII was still very fresh. There were a lot of different social upheavals brewing on the horizon. 

Some women resented returning home from work; others preferred staying home. Both were expected to do the "women's work" regardless...and neither was paid. 

The root traces back to earlier than my own research, insofar as monetary value matching everything we do.

My degrees aren't in Home Ec, though sometimes I wonder if they shouldn't have been. I actually rather enjoy the reality of living home economics in practice. I know that, because of my degrees, I am literally worth more dead than alive, but because of a degree I don't have, I should have a few decades of the SAHM salary saved up to pay that off nicely and then some.

So back to that Motherly article. In that short article is a link that takes the reader to Salary with a "What is a Mom's Work Worth?" quizlet thing. I played along.

My salary range is between $231,769 and $284,463, based on criteria listed and my zip code...median to high. I'd probably be slightly on the higher end of some of the criteria, fairly...but that was admittedly gratifying. Especially since I carry skills over a century old that it seems nobody even knows how to do anymore, so I guess either those are priceless...maybe that qualifies (along with those degrees that sometimes have me doubt my value as a human being) for the national high of $330,269.

Heh.

See? That's why I usually just chuckle to myself about it.

Mostly.

p/l/s
~dw

The Sickness of Disembarkment

Mal de Débarquement Syndrome (MdDS)

 "...MdDS is rarely recognized immediately and is often misdiagnosed as Ménière’s disease, vestibular migraine, motion sickness, or even as a form of psychosomatic illness.

MdDS is literally translated as the “sickness of disembarkment.” It is a disorder of rocking vertigo and imbalance that starts after a period of motion exposure, such as going on a cruise, flying, or even a long car ride. Unlike short-lived land-sickness, MdDS can persist for months or years."

~*~
At the end of August I traveled to Georgia. Upon returning I couldn't shake the feeling of still being in motion. 

My flights coming home weren't particularly turbulent. I have traveled extensively since infancy, and have experienced my fair share of turbulence; I've criss-crossed the country in old pick-up trucks, responsimobile-type family vehicles of myriad variety, by Greyhound, and etc. I am familiar with that weird feeling of being in motion that goes away after a few hours.

This wasn't that.

I couldn't shake the feeling for more than a week. It was really bizarre. 

I did a little googling and came across this condition of "land sickness" - which I read to be more or less what we landlubbers experience if we get on a boat. But I don't turn green on a boat, and I haven't ever experienced motion sickness that I can recall. Also, the focus was on boats, and I hadn't traveled by boat, so I set it aside. I saw MdDS mentioned, but didn't give that much thought because it was noted as extremely rare so it very likely wouldn't apply to me. I noted a few peculiar details, and later mentioned it to my husband in passing. We agreed it was interesting.

Then the symptoms dissipated and I forgot about it. Happily.

Last Thursday, my family embarked on a fall break adventure, a 4-day/3-night/1,293-mile circular road trip around the other side or Oregon. We went to Joseph, Hell's Canyon Overlook, Hines, the "scenic route" to Klamath Falls, to Crater Lake (and all the way around Crater Lake), to ...eventually... I-5 and back home. That's the highlights...but I'm not sharing it to brag. It was incredibly beautiful, fun, all that...but those areas of Oregon are very, very rural. The roads aren't always the smoothest.

Having grown up where I did, and having grown up as "junior navigator" through countless road trips (childhood to present), I'm used to mountains and trees. Specifically pine trees. Those great huge ones that reach up to kiss clouds. Most folks I knew growing up remember those mountains even if they never returned to that place.

Eastern and southeastern Oregon is incredibly beautiful. High desert with evolving landscape as you go through it, with oases of ranch land that offer green relief to the browns and yellows...and in the near and middle distance, always, the foothills and mountains. And their trees. Those pine trees that are for me reminiscent of my hometown hills.

Except...I have this weird problem with those trees. The tall pine ones. 

This problem started something like 20ish years ago. I can't remember exactly. It only happens if I'm in a car in motion and not driving. I can drive in the same places and conditions and am perfectly fine. But if I am in the passenger seat or in the back seat, going through mountains covered in pines...in places like Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, etc...I cannot look off to the distance or upward (though I can look at trees at eye level near me and sometimes looking downward) without experiencing something akin-to-but-not-exactly-like vertigo. 

This isn't any secret to anyone in my immediate family, since we've all been on road trips together for decades. It's a known thing, and I just take it into account when we're traveling through that type of terrain to put down the sun visor as a sort of visual shield. I try focusing on conversation or things that we're passing near by. I am unsure if this weird quirk of mine has ever come up in conversation with friends or other family. I can't remember.

I can remember that I did not always experience this. I traced back in my memory to the first time I remember experiencing it, and it was about 2003 or so. I might be off, but I remember it was back when I lived in Washington state, and I was frequently on the road, and I noticed something that I remember "seeing" as a kid. When I look at pine tree-covered mountains, I know that the trees are straight up toward the sun, but I see them at odd angles, and not all going the same angle. If I've commented to what I see, nobody has "gotten" what I meant.

And I'd never been particularly bothered by the visual distortion in and of itself ...until the first time I thought I was about to throw up and had to pull to the side of the road. 

If I am standing still, the trees don't bother me. If we're driving slowly (like through a National Park or preserve), no big deal. It's strictly while in motion but not driving (and that makes sense because focus is on the road while driving, generally). 

I wouldn't even bother sharing the timing of this weird quirk that began a couple of decades ago, except for how that timing occurs with something else that happened at about the same time, and why that becomes important in light of another peculiar detail about MdDS that I returned to after piecing these things together.

Another tiny tidbit, so to answer before the question is asked, yes...I have history with migraine. Several people on my maternal side deal with seasonal migraine. Mine was menstrual, but only until I started hormonal birth control, which brought the attacks under control. I did not experience menstrual onset attack after having my first child, though I still occasionally experience a kind of visual "halo effect" attack. I have another chronic condition that is seasonally-affected, so I find the seasonal elements interesting, in conjunction with the hormonal effect.

And honestly, I wouldn't share that tiny tidbit here at all were it not for the fact that the timeline from 20 years ago becomes relevant alongside the hormonal piece mentioned when taken together with the fact I was a 6-time egg donor and started a 7-th cycle with the hormones that was canceled mid-cycle. 

I've mentioned the fact of my egg donation in certain circles, and there are a couple of (now archived) blog entries here where I discussed it. There is much that I could say about egg donation from the long-lens perspective of hindsight, positive and less so. That is a blog entry for another day. What matters here, as it relates to everything else, is the fact there is so little research on the long-term effects on donors themselves.

That is changing, I am happy to be engaged with the research surrounding that.

Why that matters to what I'm writing about is that one side-effect we suspect my donating contributed to was premature menopause. When I turned 45, we learned I have a couple of chronic conditions requiring lot of adjustments on my part. We learned at the same time that I was in full (premature) menopause. I had been saying for more than a year that something was off. I suspected but didn't know, and was laughed off. It was frustrating, but answered some questions.

I had not made the connection directly between egg donation and some of my earlier (perimenopausal) symptoms until a recent interview with a researcher about my time as a donor. We covered a lot of history fairly quickly, and given her decades researching the subject, she was able to quickly throw a lot into a way I understood (and admired her skill in doing so). 

Most of my serious dental issues began...my lower back issues began...my tree woozies began...my perimenopausal issues began...all in Washington state, around 2003 or so. I was an active donor in Hawaii from 1999 to 2001. I started a cycle from Washington for the same agency (on direct request for me specifically) in 2002 -- and the cycle was canceled on the intended recipient end mid-cycle, but I still took several of the shots.

Being an egg donor involves a lot of hormone injections to stimulate the process of oocyte maturation. There are potential health complications during the entire process that I never gave any thought to - despite the sheer number of eggs removed from me (it is seriously surprising that I never experienced ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS)), especially my last complete cycle. I am presently in contact with the agency I donated through (which has changed ownership twice now) in an effort to obtain my old files. I'm not optimistic, but we'll see.

Anyway, fast-forward to returning from our fall break adventure through the other side of Oregon, and I'm still in motion. I started reading about MdDS again, and I tripped over this, from the same site linked at the top of this entry...

"...It turns out that this under-recognized and understudied disorder affects thousands of people every year, typically middle-aged women, though also a fair number of men. Research into MdDS has shown that factors related to the aging brain, hormonal changes, and stress contribute to the vulnerability of triggering an episode. One could take 15 cruises in a lifetime and have no problems, but the 16th one could trigger persistent MdDS..."

I'm middle aged, I suppose, but even setting aside the physical aspects (back, teeth) of what hormonal aftermath of egg donation likely contributed to...it way well have contributed to other aspects of my lived experiences (visual distortions, halo attacks, perpetual motion). 

I am not saying or suggesting that I have MdDS...I have not been to a physician for diagnosis. I have the symptoms, but not extreme. I fit the criteria, and resent it. I don't want some rare condition that makes me feel like I'm moving when I'm trying to relax...but it isn't life threatening, and doesn't interfere with daily living...so whatever. I'll keep doing what I'm doing and move on.

I am just feeling, for the second time recently, the sickness of disembarkment.