the housewife theory of history

I've been saying for several years now that what I really want to be is a housewife... but no one will hire me.

Random levity aside, someone sent me this really interesting commentary today about how in a wide variety of cultures, "housewives" quietly change the way things are done in major and minor ways, shifting politics in a more organic way than traditional political action groups.

From the editorial:

"This might be the secret of the housewife theory of history: These women take the qualities that are supposed to render them irrelevant and use them defiantly as well as strategically. Starting with what they love, they cut straight through the quicksand of motives and purposes to point out that harm has been done and should be stopped. In some sense, they depoliticize politics, which is what makes them so politically potent."