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November 30, 2005
The myth of 'opting out'
I'd been hearing the right wing media scream about the fact that women are abandoning the workforce in droves to have babies the last couple of days. As always I was immediately suspicious since I had seen nothing of the sort happening in my area. I had been meaning to check out their sources because I know how conservatives think and one tenth of a percent might be counted as a massive landslide trend. They aren't good at understanding numbers or even science for that matter, so you always have to double check just about everything they say. Anyway, I was commuting to work this morning and somebody with a PhD had looked at the data and found where the Republicans had fudged the numbers. The job losses in the Republican recession hurt the careers that had a larger portion of women in them. So they aren't at home by choice necessarily, they are at home because the Republican party couldn't manage the economy. I always find these kinds of coincidences interesting because Republicans like to make their own reality. They hate women and they want them to be helpless and stuck at home to be victimized at their husband's whim so they work to destroy sections of the economy to force women into that situation. I don't know but it seems like a pretty complicated plot for people who are so down right stupid. Maybe I'm giving them too much credit...they just screwed up and it just happened to come down on the "weakest" in America.
Listen to the story over at Marketplace Morning Report.
Posted by ManDrake at November 30, 2005 7:15 PM
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Comments
Did you intend for this to come out as a slam on those of us women who did abandon the workforce to stay at home and have babies or did it just come out that way?
FWIW, reno says that I'm being too touchy. Then again, it doesn't affect him (much).
Posted by: cjmr at November 30, 2005 8:53 PM
He didn't intend it to be a slight. He was slamming the Republicans for lying yet again. I edit everything he puts on the blog and I wouldn't let him put something here that not only would be slamming you, but would be slamming me too. I choose to stay home with Alexis as well and I don't see that as a bad thing and neither does Jamison.
Posted by: Dianne at November 30, 2005 8:55 PM
I'm not married and have no kids and would LOVE to abandon the workplace. Naturally, I'd like some type of home based business so that I can still eat but even men are starting to cut back on hours at work for quality of life and more time with the family (I think it was a feature in Time). I even have single friends who were lucky enough to have resources to have a baby on their own and stay home for a full year with their child. There is a difference between having a good, workable situation with adequate financial resources and being TOLD that you are violating God's will if you don't stay home with the kids.
Posted by: Qusan at November 30, 2005 11:58 PM
I think that's the key right there...the majority of the people who choose to stay home do so because they want to be there for their children...not because their religion demands it or they are forced to stay home by their husbands. And I don't think the numbers of people who choose this option has actually changed a great deal over the past decade or so. I know many women who choose to continue working and that's their choice and it works for them.
When I did work I HATED every job I ever had except for one and even with it there were days where it was a chore to drag my butt out of bed to toil away 8 hours of my day at a job I was under paid and under appreciated. I always dreamed of writing or opening my own quilt/crfat shop/tea room.
I'm actually working on the writing part of my dream now. Who knows...I may open that quilt/craft shop/tea room one day too! :o)
Posted by: Dianne at December 1, 2005 8:23 AM