This semester, I chose to take a module on Qualitative Methods. Not sure how that happened since I remember distinctly discussing with my mentor that if I had to choose a specialization, it would be one that was more “technical”, which to me at the time meant an inclination towards the math-y subjects like Biostatistics and Epidemiology. I digress.

Point being, I now get to tell myself that it is justifiable for me to read Teo You Yenn’s “This Is What Inequality Looks Like” at all times of day.

So much eloquence in the book, including this paragraph, on how we all give up the mundane at our own peril:

“When I was a girl first encountering ideas about women’s empowerment, I focused my sights on not holding myself back career-wise and ensuring that I would not be constrained by domestic demands. So much about being a woman who’s had the good fortune to be offered some choices, and yet not good enough fortune to live in a world with gender equality, is about giving up some of what we want and making peace with not “having it all.” Many women give up dreams and ideals as they patch together careers, marriage, children. My career-centered path should not be read as a rejection of the domestic and care aspects of life. Over the years, as I deepened my engagement with feminist thought, as I met more women older than me or whose lives are different from mine because of class disparities, and as I’ve grown older and expereienced more that life has to offer, I have become increasingly appreciative of the fact that our lives are not– should not– be limited to singular, one dimensional goals not to a small range of life activities. We should– women and men, across class lines– learn to be good at our jobs and learn to change diapers, cook, talk to kids, do laundry, help our neighbours and friends, buy groceries, pay bills, play; we should have, in all our days, time to learn to love and be loved. We give up the mundane at our own peril.” (Page 93)