Sometimes the anthropological moment comes to me.
This morning, I was hanging clothes despite the drizzle when a bullhorn announced the opening of a Nanshan District Sunny Family Pre-School Haiyue Community Event in our housing development. Specifically, the group was recruitng for its summer program, which would run from June 6 through July 4. From the information I gathered, it looks like more kindergarten. From the children dancing in gold costumes, it still looks like a summer of more kindergarten. SF also announced a program they will be holding on Household Relationship Management for the Professional Woman (职业女性家庭关系经营).
From the handouts and the dancing, at least, a first approximation of Sunny Family’s target audience – women and children. Reading their materials, with no knowledge of the actual good the organization may or may not do, my first reaction was: don’t we need workshops on sharing household responsibility when both parents work, rather than workshops to teach professional women “techniques (技巧)” for managing household relationships?
And yes, this is the same irritating word used by New Oriental and their ilk to teach “test taking techniques (考试技巧)”. The phrase irritates me because more often than not, my students will spend an intensive week learning “techniques” rather than reading an actual book. grumble. grumble. grumble. In the context of Sunny Families, the use of “technique” has me wondering, what exactly is being taught?
I know many professional women whose only real technique for managing the stress created through over-responsibility (job, child, husband, housework) is to either hire a part-time maid, send the child to parents back home, or bring grandparents into the home. For most professional women, there’s often just too much work for any one person to handle. And way too much for their self-respect to be tied to how well they manage these responsibilities, both individually and collectively.
做人难，做女人更难 indeed.
Shenzhen Noted 