Exploring how I feel about this issue: feminism

I read an article recently about how women rate their happiness "quotient" lower in recent times than they did in the 70s, and according to the obviously conservative authors, it is due to the feminist movement.
At first, I was annoyed and disagreed indignantly, thinking to myself, yes, times were so much better when women experienced discrimination and social inequalities/injustices.

I've been giving some thought to some of their points lately, and just want to lay it all out and see where I end up. Am I happier because it is now completely socially acceptable for me to work in powerful roles along side men? I'm stretched awfully thin sometimes and it doesn't always feel very happy.

The main premise of the article was based on the ideas in a book by a husband and wife team who assert that modern women are less happy than they were before any widespread feminist movement, because apparently, women were more fulfilled when they were simply wives, mothers, and/or fulfilling subservient, potentially exploitative workplace roles (think 70s flight attendants--widely rumored to be attractive and subject to weight requirements--I didn't fly for the first time till the 90s so I don't really know.) I added the editorial comments about the workplace roles. I think workplace attitudes have come a long way since the 70s, and this works to my advantage, as I am the primary provider in my family, and likely earn as much or more than most of the men in my department.
However--this is what gives me pause: I have recently been reminded that, biologically speaking, there is a lot of gender-role carryover that will never be legislated away. Pregnancy and its implications is an obvious example. Nursing a child is something that my husband simply can't participate in--aside from bottle feeding pumped breastmilk. As a result of the nursing (I think), my daughter often prefers me when she wants to be comforted. Actually, I will go as far as to say she prefers me exclusively. Often in the wee hours. When you couple this with a periodically high stress job that begins at 8am half an hour away from my home, it amounts to chronic sleep deprivation--since my last trimester of pregnancy. Then, when you add the disparate cleanliness thresholds of men/women, is it clear to me why some of the social female roles persisted well into "modern" times: it is hard to do it all. Nature has made it so that I am the nurterer and nest-featherer, and my mate is expected to be the provider. When you reverse these roles, things might not always be perfectly orchestrated-the new, female provider still has to be the nurterer and nest-featherer. Truly--I feel like I am stretched very thin much of the time, usually taking care of everything and everyone before myself. In the animal world, though, the female generally serves all of these roles as well, as there are very few species who raise young together and mate for extended periods of time.
Although, I am happier than ever--I was not surveyed for this book. I derive a sense of pride that I am able to provide for my family, and that my daughter gets to stay home with her dad every day. Most fathers from my childhood were very hands off, mine included, and I'm delighted that Elise and Danny will have as close of a relationship as she and I will surely have. What love that child will feel--I believe her home life will be enhanced because of "reversed" gender roles. Sometimes I wish it was me that got to stay home--and I hope it will be someday.

My good friend has a bumper sticker "Feminism is the radical idea that women are people." If that is what feminism really is, then I'm all for it. I don't think I'm being 'unfeminist' by acknowledging that biology really determines a lot of the interaction among humans--socially we could likely improve plenty of attitudes with regards to plenty of things, but as far as feminism goes, these attitudes about women don't always exist out of man's desire for a paternal dictatorship--as I think many feminists probably believe.
I find it only slightly ironic that women are capable of bearing so much of life's burdens without breaking--yet, we are physically weaker than men. We are emotional giants. Pillars of mental strength. I actually believe my brain chemistry changed during pregnancy, to allow me to comfort a fussy child far beyond what my patience was previously capable of, to survive sleep deprivation rivaling someone in the final stages of a dissertation--for months/years at a time. Women are amazing. I just realized I'm describing mothers exclusively in many of my examples, and I don't mean to--motherhood just illustrates my point. We are all amazing.