Hey hey! You ladies with kids are in luck! What do you think now about work and kids, ladies?

Question

This is for all the ladies who feel they are discriminated against at work because of their kids.
This is from Yahoo!
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobseeker/tools/ept/contribEditorPost.html?post=20

Summary:
''Companies in America go to great lengths to accommodate employees with kids. Generous paid maternity leaves, on-site or backup child-care assistance, options for flexible work options, and even scholarships to send employees' offspring to college are just some of the popular benefits touted by employers.''

''Too many instances where working moms expect accommodations because they've got to get home in time to relieve the baby sitter, or they assume it's acceptable to routinely miss meetings to take their kids to any number of after-school appointments.''

''There's often an implicit -- and hugely mistaken -- assumption that those without kids can stay late because their time is not as valuable or they have nothing better to do outside the workplace.''

How is it profitable for companies to pay thousands (if not millions) of Dollars to parents to spend on their kids? (Unless of course it's a toy company or fast food place like MacDonald's.)

Answer 1

In Europe, people get 6 - 8 weeks vacation a year. This is civilized. This gives all people the opportunity to actually live, to think, to have time for relationships. To be better citizens, better fathers and mothers and spouses.

The whole system in America is designed to keep people detached, unattached from other humans, including their own families.

First, a society with members angry because some workers go home to care for their children is a sick society indeed. A society filled with adults so angry and sad at how their own parents neglected their needs that they are enraged that children get any consideration at all. A society that doesn't seem to know it's going to need someone to wipe its *** in the nursing home...

Second, we don't need on-site child care for kids under 5 and other such 'benefits.' We need society's recognition of the fact that humans are primates, and that our children, like all primates, need years of intensive one on one with mom. Our children, and so our families and communities and society, are greatly harmed by separation of young children from their mothers.

We were all conned when feminism was coopted by the corporate machine, and they got to almost double the work force over night, keeping wages from growing. Now, double con, our wages still aren't low enough, and they're shipping more and more of our jobs away.

It's the kids who are suffering in the crazy way America is trying to adjust to new social norms about women's education and opportunities outside 'the home.' They are suffering because the American (corporate and puritan strains) way is always about denying our humanity, our animal nature, and therefore our true needs for something besides work.

Answer 2

Oh boy... don't even get me going on this topic! My S.O. has a 8 y/o son. There is no mother in the picture. The child was taken from her when he was 1 and handed over to the father. We don't know where the mother is now. This child had been raised by my S.O. and the ex-girlfriend for almost 4 years. Nothing was taught to this child, he was never given direction or discipline and has many issue's because of it. People believe children are resilient and can adjust to just about anything. Not true! We now have him in counseling, his learning level is that of a 4 y/o, he is ADD/ADHD and requires a lot of love, time and work. Know what you are getting into! Don't overlook things because you love your boyfriend. It isn't easy. It is by far the most difficult challenge I have had. I love his son but it has been one very difficult road. And in the end, if things don't work out, the child will be gone. So it is an additional risk for your heartstrings. It can be very rewarding and very exhausting at the same time. Good luck to you.

Answer 3

I worked my butt off for 6 years and balanced a family. Not once did I expect the company to do anything special for me. I was the one who was expected to work late and was always asked to come in. Do you think that companies care if a women has a family? That would be a big NO. If my kids were sick or had something going on that I need to be at, it was out of the question. I finally got sick of the crap and decided to be at home with my kids because they need a mom. The only thing I feel discriminated about now is that stay at home moms get look down upon.

Answer 4

Interestingly, most full-time working moms would rather be at home or working part-time. In various polls, about half of moms working for pay would rather be at home, another quarter would rather work part-time, and only about a quarter would like to work full-time.

So all these "family friendly" policies often don't reflect what women actually want. With the exception of flex-time, these policies are designed to keep women from being "distracted" by their children. They serve the corporations' interests, not the women's. Literally millions of women would prefer to work part-time, and corporations are missing out by insisting that there is only one "track" that's acceptable. And those "generous" paid maternity leaves? I know many women who have taken leave from white collar jobs, and often they get 2-4 weeks, if anything at all, of paid leave. Hardly all that helpful, especially after a C-section. The majority of working moms are, of course, working class and get no such leave.

Answer 5

I've chosen not to have children for a number of reasons. I would resent working in an environment where I was expected to pick up the slack of others just because they have kids. I'm all for giving people adequately maternity and paternity leave, and good health coverage to keep families strong and safe. But I would not be down for staying late so that others can get home ot spend more time with their kids. Just because I don't have kids, that doesn't mean my time isn't valuable, and that I don't deserve to go home at the same time as everyone else and get back to the life I have outside of work.

However, I don't think this is a gender specific issue and I'm nto sure why you addressed it to women and women alone.

Answer 6

This is an opinion based essay, for starters. There is no mention of numbers about those generous maternity leaves, on site or backup child care, etc. While I do believe a lot more companies are making such efforts, I have yet to see where this is happening to the majority.

That said, I do agree with the point she makes about people with kids (male and female both) that assume that childless people can work late or work on weekends more because they don't have kids. My time is no less important to me even though I don't have kids. I have friends, family, and a life outside of work and I have a right to that. The nice thing is, you learn very quickly who those people are and can make a point not to back them up, trade days with them, etc.

Answer 7

This has been going on for some time now. Companies in the US, thankfully, are deciding to make these steps themselves, rather than the government picking up the slack...which is the case in Canada. The Canadian government legislated maternity leave practices...forcing companies to leave the job open for 18 months for the new mothers. And often, these women decided not to return...but waited the full 18 months to tell their employers so that they would get their mat leave payments. In addition, all Canadians are contributing to daycare costs through their tax dollars...including those who CHOOSE not to have children!

I am childless by choice - I didn't feel right about having a child on my own (having not been married), and I didn't think I could afford it. So I made that decision responsibly. It would appear that the Canadian government, and now US companies, are not encouraging that kind of responsibility...furthering the notion that the job of parenting can be passed along to an employer or government...

Answer 8

The assumption that some parents do make in regards to people without kids is wrong, yes. I think also too there is a wrong assumption that parents leave work to serve their own selfish needs when it is about the parent putting the child first(children come first, and if parents didn't there'd be an uproar), but of course that shouldn't be at the expense of non-parents. Non-parents and parents alike should both have privilages.

Answer 9

I am a Mother and I have 2 Jobs. now let me tell you I don't get any more time off because i am a mother. nor do I ask for any more time off. only once when my Daughter had a bad ear ache did i ask for any time off. some women at some companies do get more time off. but NOT where i work. of course it's retail. i guess i am not smart enough to have a better job but at least I raise my Daughter without any help from anyone.

P.S. people without kids time Is just as valuable as my time. and we all get along great. Just thought i would say that. God Bless

Answer 10

Read the summary again. Companies go to great lengths because it is profitable above all else. I will make the assumption that working people with kids far outnumber the single types. Please correct me if I am wrong.

To keep the best you need to pay the most. If not the best, then the most steady. Many singles are flighty, changing jobs often. Also, these child laden people possible have the seniority to treat the childless in the fashion they do. Life is not fair.