I get this sometimes - some of the people who admit that household incomes have done very well since the James Gang song I'm listening to came out point out that women have joined the workforce and now it's two parents both working...
Yeah, but how'd that happen? The economy created enough jobs for the workforce to increase by 35% over the increase in population while unemployment was cut in half.....
And lucky for those women, those jobs were mostly white collar jobs.
And consider the technology advances - women didn't work in the pre-appliance era when housework was all done by hand, so the time women used to spend with a washboard, their granddaughters spend in an office.
Net, the family still brings in almost 1/3 more in inflation-adjusted dollars.
And also consider divorce - there are as many new single-parent households as there are new two-earner households, so arguably the entire "but women HAVE to work now" argument is 100% refuted by that fact alone...
2007-02-14 11:34:35 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Well, you have to factor in the cost of a woman working. I work and I therefore have a car payment. Most households only had one car when my Mom was a child. I also pay daycare, which is a lot of money. We also have a different standard of living. One TV set was just the bomb in the 50's, now just HAVE to have three connected to Direct TV with DVR. So you have a point, but I'd say it's 80% refuted by fact alone..
The reason people say women HAVE to work now is this: When I was a kid you could live in a low income neighborhood and not hear gunshots. The value on education is also higher (and I believe a good thing), but lots of women work to get their kids in a better suburb with better schools with the extra income.
2007-02-14 11:39:19 · answer #1 · answered by MEL T 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
So, are you suggesting that married women quit our jobs and go back to doing housework? You are not taking into consideration that perhaps women want to be engaged in the public sphere. I personally don't want to sit at home all day washing clothes and dishes and squirting out babies. My husband and I have agreed that if one of us is to stay home when we adopt a child, it will be him. I have a more extensive education and make far more money than he does. Women working has to do with far more than economics. It has given us independence, socially and financially. We have just as much to offer as any man.
As for the fact that there are many single parent homes, you have not taken into consideration that there is still often two incomes contributing to the expenses of raising children. Most of the single parents I have known have struggled far more than two parent households, living paycheck to paycheck, without the chance to save for their children's college education.
2007-02-14 19:50:24 · answer #2 · answered by Seraphim 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I kinda think that we were urged to buy more stuff so women would have to work to get it so economy would grow so we would have more demand for stuff so we could buy more stuff so women would have to work....but who do we put to work when that doesn't grow the economy, our kids?
I also really hated the idea of housework and clubwoman stuff all day long (full time job for no wages). Having grown up in the fifties I also decided early on that I would never be as dependent on any man as my mom's friends were opn their husbands...
2007-02-14 19:52:55 · answer #3 · answered by ash 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Now I know there has got to be a question in there somewhere.
2007-02-14 19:39:45 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
And what is your question?
2007-02-14 19:51:20 · answer #5 · answered by Cardinal Rule 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋