Reply to Working Moms and Do It All Expectation

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "Working Moms and Do It All Expectation"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]by saying that there was a division of labor and it was better when moms didn’t work and managed to single-handedly take care of kids needs, is still putting all the responsibility for child care on the women’s shoulder.

As a society, we decide what is important. Given that there is no minimum parental leave, affordable childcare, good before / aftercare options, [b]we have decided as a society that having children is not valued. [/b]The moms lamenting are a result of that. But it’s not the feminists to blame, it’s all of us as a society because these are our values: families and children are not priority for us as a society. It’s that simple.[/quote]

Or maybe it’s the opposite. Consider that the conservative argument is that women should be able to stay home with children and therefore a strong economy with high wages is important.

Compared to a country with lower wages and women returning to work after a year of government paid leave.

I’d argue European countries are less family friendly since through their taxes and lower wages require almost all women to work after having children. [/quote]

Except they get like two years of paid maternity.

Your argument doesn’t hold because the median HHI income in the US is $75k and in Euro countries it’s $64.4k.  Professional jobs in Europe pay absolutely well enough to have only one spouse working if that’s what you want…add in that you don’t have to save for healthcare, childcare, pre-school, college, etc.

So the median US household can’t afford to have a parent not work.[/quote]

Many European countries also give out child subsidies -- a check every month for every child to ensure basics (food, clothes) are covered. Add in not having to pay for healthcare, heavily subsidized daycare, and the fact that living in apartments and other small homes is normalized, and it's really not that hard to have 3 or more kids in Europe if you are willing to have your kids share rooms. And then college is also free or largely subsidized, so you don't have to worry so much about saving for that. Many countries have government pensions so you don't have to save so much for your own retirement. And so on. It's harder to be wealthy in Europe but it's very easy to live a comfortable middle class lifestyle.

In France, where some of my relatives live, there are even state-mandated discounts on lots of things for family sizes over a certain size (I think 4). Like my cousin has joked that she should have a third child because they get to do everything free. But the country does it because it helps with the birth rate.

I know many people in Europe and the young people never say they don't want to have kids due to money, or that they can't afford to have more kids. Maybe in a very high cost of living city like London or Paris. But in most of Europe, having children is really not that financially difficult. Even things like diapers and baby food are subsidized. They do a lot to make having kids appealing or at least easy. But in the US, the culture makes having children so difficult and expensive. I know many, many Americans who have chosen not to have kids, postponed having kids, or stopped at one or two kids because the costs are too high. And I do not blame them. I remember when my DC was born, I was shocked at how hard it was to find childcare at all, and then how much it cost. I just couldn't believe it. We wound up on a dozen waitlists for daycare (and they charge for the waitlist). No one had spots. And this was for the privilege of paying $2000 or more per month for an infant spot. I told my husband that something must be wrong, we must be missing something, but now I know it's just how it is. We wound up figuring out a nanny share and then I lost my job anyway. What chaos. Just to have a baby! This country is so backwards sometimes.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics