I love being a pregnant woman in a man's world: Part 1

We're living in the Barlow Center in Washington, DC, home to not only BYU interns but also the Washington DC institute and center for public and international affairs for the Church. The other day, I went to find an ethernet cord so we could access the internet in our room and I was pulled into the institute director's office because he wanted to meet me. I obliged, and introduced myself. We began casually chatting about my internship and my future career goals (think grad school, etc). At some point, I mentioned that I was pregnant, and his whole demeanor changed. He asked me if I planned on pursuing said career goals (which, honestly, change quite often so who knows if I actually will) now that I was pregnant. I replied that I planned on it, to which he basically stated that should I choose to not be a stay-at-home, I will jeopardize my children's future. He apparently did his dissertation on such-and-such family research and found that mothers who work tend to have children that do drugs and engage in premarital sex. Ok. I get it, day care, nannies, not the right thing for most. I retorted that our children will always have one of us (meaning a father or mother) caring for them. To which he came back with the notion that my husband would not have the skills (because he's a man) to raise our children. Because, men aren't nurturing, right? I told them co-parenting has worked for many families, with very positive results including the wife and mother making a contribution to the world and the father knowing his children as well as his counterpart. To which he shoved the Proclamation off his wall and into my face. To which I told him that I knew what it said and I had thought deeply about those words. His reply: "That's your problem, you need to do less thinking and more praying."

Why this little encounter upsets me SO MUCH:

a) This man does not know me. He is not my spiritual leader, he has no right to tell me what to do. He had no right to tell me that I need to completely change my life now that I'm married and pregnant.

b) When men (or women for that matter) are staring me down and telling me things like this, I CAN'T TALK BACK. I am horrible at defending myself and my positions, I think mostly for fear of brutal retaliation. And this man is very, very intimidating.
c) He also stated that the US has good reasons to not ratifying CEDAW and members of the Church should not support such a family-demeaning institution.

d) I want to do something about it, I want him to be corrected, I want a General Authority to call him up and tell him that he's wrong, that everyone is entitled to personal revelation about their lives and families and he is not entitled to receive that revelation for MY family. I want to tell him that all people, no matter members of the Church or not, are entitled to live their lives genuinely, and if Heavenly Father wants me to be a political scientist/public health guru/midwife/WHATEVER then I should not be told that I will hurt my children and that I'm being selfish and listening to the world (which is pretty much the gist of what he said to me).

e) I don't want him to be able to say the same things to other women.

f) I think it's offensive to my husband to say that he does not have the capacity to be as nurturing and as loving and is as capable of raising our children as me. If anything, barring the birthing and the breastfeeding, I'd argue that Tim is just as capable of such a thing, and I think what hurts me most in this whole exchange was that my husband has to be outside the home to make his contribution to our family.

g) I've worked my butt off for 16+ years in school, slaving away at honors classes, multiple minors in college, internships, etc. because I like to accomplish things. I like to work hard, I like to learn, I like to contribute, I like to research. I don't think being a woman and particularly a mother makes me any less entitled to reap what I have sown with all of this hard work. And I'm smart damnit! And I've worked hard! Don't you tell me that I'm not allowed to pursue further education and potentially a career that will benefit society as well as my family!! And don't try to guilt trip me into giving it all up! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT.

End rant.