Ann Romney and Outsourcing

In April, when the influential lobbyist and commentator, Hilary Rosen, branded Ann Romney, the wife of Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee presumptive for US Presidency, as unqualified to speak about the economy's tolls because she's "never worked a day in her life", it caused quite a furor.

Many people, particularly feminists, came to her defense, so did Ann Romney herself.  She said that (her) raising five sons is hard work and that while she never has worried about finances, she has faced the ordeals of cancer and multiple sclerosis. Further, she said, Mitt Romney considers her job, raising the children, as more important than his, which generated the family's net worth of more than $200 million.

With a certain distance from that immediate storm, I can add a few comments of my own now.

First, I fully respect the hard work of raising a child, or five children.  That was a tough job, even if you have maids, nannies, chauffeurs, governesses, cooks, gardeners, and groom, etc.  It was still the mistress's responsibility to ensure the smooth run of the household, and the upright character development of her child(ren).

However, there is one major difference between Ann Romney's job as wife and mother and those of working men and women.  She needs not to worry about losing her job involuntarily - a downsizing, a outsourcing, usually after a takeover, by the likes of Bain Capital, once chaired by her husband, Mitt. The company, corporate, factory, or workshop (whatever you consider her family as a business), she does not worry about being laid off, and her jobs of being the wife and mother being shipped to India, China or Viet Nam.

She might be able to imagine, but she has not suffered the daily worry and humiliation of a working man or woman, who constantly fear for losing his or her job, the means to put food on his or her table, to feed his/her spouse/partner and their child(ren).

I wonder, how a woman like Ann Romney, wife of Mitt Romney, would react to the story like this, reported by Guardian of UK:

'I'm sick to my stomach': anger grows in Illinois at Bain's latest outsourcing plan - The Sensata plant in Freeport is profitable and competitive, but its majority owner, Bain Capital, has decided to ship jobs to China – and forced workers to train their overseas replacements

Sensata employee Mark Schreck in Freeport. Workers at the plant have appealed to Bain and Romney to save their plant. Photograph: Carlos Ortiz/Polaris - Guardian.co.uk