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Bring men into the family
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by generaldecay | August 11, 2009 at 12:02 pm
83 views | 10 Recommendations | 6 comments
If more fathers were able to take career breaks when a child is born, women might not have to delay motherhood.
Here's an interesting suggestion. If we're concerned as a society for whatever reason about women delaying having babies, then perhaps we should do something about it.
Proposed macro-solutions seem largely confined to addressing the problem in schools by educating young girls about their biological clocks and convincing them to have children earlier in life. Besides the obvious tensions between teaching abstinence, safe sex and fertility optimisation at the same time, this kind of approach puts an unfair onus on the next generation of young women to solve a society-wide problem.
Indeed. If society wants women to have children (nay, if evolution demands it), then it could perhaps be more tempting - or at the very least less difficult - to do so.
The real issue is not that women have turned away from the idea of having children at a time that suits their biological clocks. Rather, it's that women are not willing to sacrifice their career prospects for the rest of their lives any earlier than they have to (which, considering the average age for women of the current generation could push 100 years, is not something to sniff at).
And how might society change this? Well, we could have a system whereby fathers are as able to take career breaks when children are born as mothers.
A society where it was just as likely for a father as for a mother to take a career break during their children's early years would be a society where the pay gap might start to narrow. If there was no way of predicting who was more likely to bow out, there would be no economic incentive to withhold promotion, training, or pay rises from one group over another. The pay gap exists today much more as an expression of risk management on behalf of employers than of explicit discrimination against women.
If some equality were introduced on this level, perhaps have children may not be as unpalatable for many women as it is currently. Of course, individual choice is still crucial. but when we live in a society which makes child-bearing and rearing difficult for women, we could certainly introduce some systemic changes to make it easier.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 15:39 on August 11th, 2009
We don't just need fathers to be able to take paternity leave, in order for it to be equal paternity leaves seem to have to be mandatory. This is demonstrated in Sweden, a country with one of the world's most generous paternity leave laws - yet fathers aren't taking advantage of it. It's still largely women who stay at home, seemingly because they might feel more attached to the child, and because men still earn more than women and thus are more likely to want to stay at work. Not to mention the stereotypes that are attached to masculinity.
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"It's a question of values and behavior" Indeed. As a woman, I hate to hear that women are supposed to have children before the age of 30. It does put us in a tougher situation when it comes to getting hired, keeping a job at the age when people "expect" you to have children, as well as a general feeling of having control over your own body and life. We have a long way to go.
at 23:24 on August 11th, 2009
Annina, I think that that's a very good point and one of the issues. Paternity leave equal to maternity leave is not attractive yet and we could do with more measures to make it mandatory. However, that is a long way off in the UK, I dare say - we've only just introduced the one/ two weeks off for fathers here.
at 13:50 on August 13th, 2009
Only one week? I hope they change it soon, as it is definitely an issue which puts women in a disadvantageous position in society.
at 23:06 on August 13th, 2009
Yes, one/ two weeks. And even that was considered an achievement at the time because it was none a few years ago.
at 06:45 on August 13th, 2009
I think it's only fair that fathers are involved in the process, which would certainly help to lighten the pressures on women, of course dependent of particular cultures.
When my friends decided to have a baby, the husband did take a leave and the wife did return to work earlier than expected. The husband had a modern employer that allowed a geneours paternity leave. It was a unique experience for my friends.
at 11:12 on August 13th, 2009
Pythiian1, thank you for the recommendation and comment.
I can indeed imagine that that was a unique experience for your friends - it's certainly uncommon.