I especially liked the reading regarding women, motherhood, and the workforce because it touches on an area that has not been talked about within discussions but is nonetheless a discussion that is now common and important within the workforce as more and more women enter the working world. What I found most interesting and something that I really enjoyed reading was the particular occupation women like Hargreaves chose such as mountaineering, which is an extreme occupation that not only requires immense physical sacrifice, but also personal sacrifice; it is something I truly think one needs to be passionate about because of the demands high-altitude mountains require and the dangers within those mountains.

I found the criticisms associated with women climbers to be extremely hostile and it reminded me a bit of misogyny because of the harsh opinions directed towards women quite simply because they chose a path that required them to be away from the home and their children; they chose a path that was accepted universally as a male specific occupation and received backlash because of it.

I do understand that a child needs their mother throughout all parts of their lives, but does a child not need their father as well? The only reasoning I can find regarding the criticisms and questions that female climbers feel inclined to answer is the ideology of a rugged, dangerous, and remote expedition that endangers a person’s life and also could leave a family is a gender specific journey, that gender being male. Women not only subverted the gender specific occupation of mountaineering, but they also changed the dynamic of the base camps that were long viewed as a place a person can get away from the wives, girlfriends, and children because the children, girlfriends, and wives were now coming to the basecamps and scaling the high-altitude peaks.

I really enjoyed that women mountaineers did not allow societal standards to force them to choose one or the other, they brought their families with them if it required but they also pursued their passions and did so unapologetically. Hargreaves stated that she tended to block her children or her work out of her mind when needed and I found that difficult to read and a bit neglectful but I appreciated the honesty of her answer, she did not lie or give a politically correct answer that women and men around the world would accept; she gave her truth, no matter the backlash. What I found most enjoyable about this reading is it got me to think and recognize my own criticisms on women who choose a professional career over their children for a period of time, it quite honestly shamed me as a female that I would criticize another woman for decisions that took her away from her household and children but so willingly and readily accept those same decisions should it be a man.

I think a large part of the criticisms stem from the foundation of men existing within the public sphere and “bringing home the bacon”, whereas women existed within the private sphere and tended to the home and the children. These are roles that while have become fluid throughout generations, are still difficult to break or transform into a more gender neutral society.