Cognative Dissonance and the Hypocrisy?

On Thursday I made the argument that it was a waste of an education for women to recieve graduate and postgraduate degrees if they are don't actualize their training in the work force. Now granted: I know I am wrong. I do recognize the contribution of women both in the economic sphere as well as in the domestic. I also recognize that these spheres are equally valuable, and are all too often separated in conversational topics. Childcare is equally valuable to any other profession. I wholly accept this. Furthermore, I understand an education is a safety net that grants women indepedence from a spouse; also recognizing that women are not always mothers and can work both before and after children. My problem lies deeper than this in a set of cultural baggage that I didn't know I had. Growing up, every friends mom and evey woman to drive me in a car pool had at least a B.A. and often a graduate degree in business of law. Having seen this since early childhood, I subconsciously formed the opinion that these women were not actualizing their capabilities as many of them now with grown children do not work. Greenwich has scarred me, I'm sure in more ways than this. The reason this really troubled me is because I intend to receive a higher education and also intend to have children whom I intend spend significant time raising. Thusly, I asked myself "if I feel this way, am I not viewing my future education as a waste?-- at what point would it be a waste? am I a hypocrit?" I spent half of class on Thursday thinking about this, and after class asked G, what's the deal with my head. She used the term 'cognative dissonance' to describe my apparent incogruity in beliefs. Since then, I've a little research on cognative dissonance and think it is an interesting psychological theory that is relative to the study of human rights, especially in our class. Furthermore, I propose that we discuss 'CD' at some point or if not everyone should at least investigate it for themselves.
Regards, Lefras