Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Why is it a problem that women are the primary caregiver to their children?
Haven't there been numerous studies done that point out that women are simply wired in such a way that they can DO a better job as the primary caregiver?
Why are we so hellbent on creating supposed opportunity for women to be hold positions of power within the business world as opposed to making a bigger effort to strengthen the family structure?
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Hellbent on creating opportunity or hellbent on removing barriers.
So genetically women could be predisposed to desire staying home and raising children as opposed to working in a job. That could be true. It could also be true that men who are genetically predisposed to stay home and raise children are surpressed and are over represented in the workforce because of patriarchal structures that encourage them to work.
The question that I think is unanswered is do the societal structures as they currently exist surpress Women's involvement in the work place. So go back to the CEO and maximizing value. What portion of women do we lose of those top 20% because they are born women.
I think the biggest outcome you can do to strengthen the family structure is for men to be more involved in it. Looking at outcomes for children without strong male role models shows a significant drop in outcomes. So perhaps as part of eliminating barriers which prevent us from Maximizinf women contributions to the work force we can also eliminate barriers which prevent Men from maximizing their contributions to their families.
So going back to the child care example. Non subsidized daycare devalues the work of the second income earner by reducing the realized wage after expenses. So Cliffs argument that equal subsidies of the stay at home option would be a better test is incorrect.
The real test is at what threshold of income would the average man who makes less than his wife go back to work for And and what income would the average women who makes less than her husband go back to work for. If these values are equal then men and women would value work equally. The fact the women's labour participation jumps dramatically when subsidizes suggests that the reason women choose not to work is that the economic benefit isn't high enough. The fact that men's jumps far less shows that men choosing to stay home is much more of a value choice.
So in the end the goal would be to build societal structures that give choice of expression of each individuals desires without having the societal structures dictate those choices on the basis of gender.