Heinlein’s Unusually Competent Women

 Heinlein’s Juveniles appealed to me in my youth because of the “unrealistically” competent female women. I was raised by a family of extremely competent women in the WWII years and the post war.  In those days women who were competent in anything outside of homemaking were almost invisible in society and strongly encouraged to conform to aspire only to the MRS. degree even while in college. 

 They are not unrealistic, just not common.  I eventually married one.  I learned early on in our relationship when we were both in High School that she had two aspirations: A Nobel Prize and successful children. If I didn’t intend to actively support both I should look elsewhere.  I went to a top tier University and dated normally but my choices were those seeking the Mrs. and non-breeders as they bought into the prevailing culture norm that successful women didn’t plan for children. As a result when she graduated with an honors STEM degree we married to cooperate in both endeavors.

 All Heinlein’s competent women were enthusiastic breeders, and many of his stories contain ways to provide appropriate care for the children of competent women.  Hint “All MEN should be able to change a diaper,...”   I learned that skill for the first middle of the night feeding.  When the baby cried, when she was half awake she asked me to bring him to her and was asleep when I got there to hang him on an available teat.  When he was finished she was fast asleep and I had no choice but learn to change the dirty diaper. Thereby establishing the parenting rule:  When she was asleep, at work, or busy I was a single parent.  Conversely when I was at work or busy she was a single parent.  As both of us were in high paying, demanding jobs we needed and could afford the best daytime nanny.  Until both children were in school, one of us worked for free.  We could have afforded an Au Pair, but parenting was a priority for both of us and we arranged our work schedules to fit. I was the morning parent getting everyone up, fed, and off to school or work, she was the evening parent with a lot of help from me. Our joke was that we split the parenting 60/40 with both of us doing the 60%