Emily Matchar in her book Homeward Bound: Why Women are Embracing the New Domesticity says this movement “relates to our growing disenchantment with the mainstream workplace, which has failed young people, mothers, and families in so many ways.”

Complaints about “work/life balance” and “antifamily policies” surfaced after women entered the workforce in large numbers. Matcher’s book addresses these issues. As I read her book, I asked: What was so great about the workplace for men before women joined it? Isn’t it important for men to have a work/life balance, too? Singles as well as marrieds? Families and also childless couples? What about the retired, with more relaxed schedules but still with skills to share?

Matchar calls on men as well as women to change. “We need to make sure that the rallying cry of ‘take back the home’ is shouted just as loudly by men as by women.”

Should a career dictate our consuming interest in life?  Men and women live longer than in generations past. We have more years for both careers and other pursuits. Why should all our years from young adulthood to sixty-five be given over to careers? Why should the population then be divided into “career” and “retired”? Why does consumption so rule our lives, guaranteeing that most adults must work full-time to sustain it?

Perhaps we could encourage a less materialistic model which allows dropping out occasionally to focus on children or schooling or creative pursuits or civic work or taking a sabbatical in a monastery or the deliberate choice of part time work for several years.

How about a new dialog blending domesticity (community?) and career for all of us?