Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
It's a kind of populism of the left. Any policy expert who understands statistics knows the gap is almost entirely about choices families make over child care and work-life balance. And yet politicians portray it as an issue of discrimination and systemic oppression. That's demagoguery, pure and simple. And it's frankly patronizing to women in its assumption that they don't understand statistics, or recognize why the disparity really exists. The decision of a mother to ease off her career in order to devote herself more to family life is only a problem for society if its not a choice entered into freely. And women like my wife deeply resent the stance of hardline feminists and the federal Liberals that it's a public duty to encourage women to spend more hours working outside the home. She doesn't want to.
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There are systemic issues that lead to the decisions of women to choose to work less to raise kids. The biggest is the social norm of mother as primary caregiver. If that norm didn't exist and you only had nature rather than nurture the balance would be different than today.
Labour participation amoung women is significantly higher in Quebec where daycare costs less. This clearly demonstrates that there are systemic affects that lead to the "choice" of women spending more time raising children. One might argue that the cost of having children is less opportunity for a career but if so that lost opportunity is being born disproportionately by women.
The Quebec evidence suggests she(global she, not your wife in particular) wants too but can't afford too