Greedy jobs, reproductive & human-capital biological clocks, & men who do not see what is in front of their faces; a short note inspired by reading Virginia Postrel's "Three Basic Facts That Affect Fe
OMG, super. Well said. Repeat regularly until the gates opens.
Claudia Goldin has reminded us that we did build nurseries -- as a national policy, mind you -- when we needed them: during World War II, That's how we were able to engage women in the work force when the men were away. Our inability to reimagine that now says volumes about the inertia of the patriarchy and the lying liars that enforce it, even in thought. You mentioned a bunch of them. Good for you!
So completely on target.... Sigh. I saw it all the time in the high tech field (and that is actually a field where there are a lot of successful women and some companies that really try to do part of what is proposed here)
With women delaying childbirth into their 30's, and they themselves being born of parents in their 30's, might it not become more feasible to have grandparents shoulder some of the parenting? Perhaps Social Security or the tax code could be jiggered to allow grandparents to rear their grandchildren. My own retired mother played a big hand in raising my four kids. We helped her out financially and with maintaining her house. Now in her 90s, my kids help keep an eye on their grandma. While this isn't a pathway everyone might take for reasons of geography or family dynamics, it is a track that worked for my family.
I read Judith Shklar's work over the years, but knew nothing about. She appears to be as interesting as I would have expected her to be. Great to have this background.
This is extremely interesting and important but may miss a key point about pronatalist policy. The groups having fewer babies now tend to be lower income.
Yeah. Well all I did was (a) take a one-year Instructorship at MIT rather than a tenure-track job at Columbia because my wife had gotten a clerkship offer in Boston but not in New York, and (b) take one semester off without pay when the kid was 9 mos old...
Smart, ambitious women are seldom content being married to men with non-greedy jobs. For a woman to even consider a mommy track career, they expect their spouse to be able to earn enough to support the family in the manner it's become accustomed to when both spouses had greedy jobs.
OMG, super. Well said. Repeat regularly until the gates opens.
Claudia Goldin has reminded us that we did build nurseries -- as a national policy, mind you -- when we needed them: during World War II, That's how we were able to engage women in the work force when the men were away. Our inability to reimagine that now says volumes about the inertia of the patriarchy and the lying liars that enforce it, even in thought. You mentioned a bunch of them. Good for you!
So completely on target.... Sigh. I saw it all the time in the high tech field (and that is actually a field where there are a lot of successful women and some companies that really try to do part of what is proposed here)
Agree.
My two cents no one of which is a magic bullet and, hopefully, all of which have other benefits.
The generous refundable child tax credit.
Land use and building code reform to make it easier for families with children to live near highly productive jobs.
Push out the expected "retirement" age so that the person "starting over" at 40 still has 30 or 40 years of productive working life ahead.
De-credential lots of jobs.
Refocus medical practice and research (Yeah how?) on preserving productive health over life extension per se.
More progressive personal taxes would reduce somewhat the shine of "greedy" jobs.
Tax credits for career shift education.
Like it. Except the part about working until you are 80. That sucks big time.
With women delaying childbirth into their 30's, and they themselves being born of parents in their 30's, might it not become more feasible to have grandparents shoulder some of the parenting? Perhaps Social Security or the tax code could be jiggered to allow grandparents to rear their grandchildren. My own retired mother played a big hand in raising my four kids. We helped her out financially and with maintaining her house. Now in her 90s, my kids help keep an eye on their grandma. While this isn't a pathway everyone might take for reasons of geography or family dynamics, it is a track that worked for my family.
I read Judith Shklar's work over the years, but knew nothing about. She appears to be as interesting as I would have expected her to be. Great to have this background.
This is extremely interesting and important but may miss a key point about pronatalist policy. The groups having fewer babies now tend to be lower income.
… there is always the possibility of non-greedy husbands [sic: not "spouses] …
Yeah. Well all I did was (a) take a one-year Instructorship at MIT rather than a tenure-track job at Columbia because my wife had gotten a clerkship offer in Boston but not in New York, and (b) take one semester off without pay when the kid was 9 mos old...
Smart, ambitious women are seldom content being married to men with non-greedy jobs. For a woman to even consider a mommy track career, they expect their spouse to be able to earn enough to support the family in the manner it's become accustomed to when both spouses had greedy jobs.