Meet the ‘Selfless’ Women of the ‘Stay at Home Daughters Movement’

  • Share
  • Read Later

Growing numbers of young women are forsaking education, forgoing employment and devoting themselves to their fathers with the goal of becoming “keepers of the home.” In your face, feminists!

In the latest offshoot of the Christian Patriarchy Movement, which argues that men should lead and women should quietly follow, the Stay At Home Daughters Movement wants girls to believe that they’re under the complete authority of their fathers—until the menfolk decide to pass control on to the women’s husbands. Stay at home daughters (SAHDs) don’t work. They view personal ambition as anti-family. And they spend their days crocheting, knitting and making soap.

(See photos of religion in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.)

According to Bitch magazine, which recently ran an extensive feature on SAHDs, which sounds like “sad,” sisters Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin have driven the movement. First they wrote the book So Much More: The Remarkable Influence of Visionary Daughters on the Kingdom of God, in which they “elaborate upon the intricacies of the father-daughter bond, and the need for a biblically defined relationship.” Then they filmed the documentary Return of the Daughters, which follows women staying at home to serve their fathers. Bitch reports that a 23-year old woman in the film describes her dad as “the greatest man in my life. I believe that helping my father in his business is a better use of my youth and is helping prepare me to be a better helpmeet for my future husband, rather than indulging in selfishness and pursuing my own success and selfish ambitions.” Apparently the word “helpmeet” is making a comeback in certain circles…

In one entry on their blog Visionary Daughters, the Botkin sisters suggest that whenever a woman has independent thoughts the devil is at work. Profiling a newly married woman from New Zealand, they explain that she once dreamed of becoming Prime Minister but gave up on that dream to become a “Christian homeschooling wife and mother.” After getting married, she struggled to obey her new husband because she was so used to obeying her father. We hate when that happens. As she writes:

“These were exciting times and difficult as during this state of flux—learning to replace one man’s vision with another—the devil would come around and say, “But what about what you want? What about what you think?”

(Read about Julia Gillard and other female politicians who have made it to the top.)

The Botkin sisters aren’t alone. Daughters choosing to stay at home are launching blogs and posting videos like this one, which offers tips on how to be “wise, useful and content as a stay at home daughter.” (via Jezebel)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGHTvZojCIo&w=450]