Reflections on International Womens' Day

[Mary_Gail_36]

I’m in a similar position, but it’s more the future earnings and benefits. 401K, Pension, health insurance that costs 1/4 of what my husband would pay at his small company and we have better coverage, bonuses, long term incentive program, and the fact that if i left the workforce for the next 4-6 years i would likely not be able to go back to where i was and even if i did I would be way behind in earnings.

I’m working today for the paycheck I will earn 10 years from now and the retirement options I will have 25 years from now.

My former job didn’t have any of those benefits, except for the health insurance, but my DH’s was comparable. Plus the office politics I could have done without, and the resentment if I had to miss a day or a morning for a doctor visit. I remember one of the last office dramas was who would work the day after the 4th of July. My due date was June 28th, and I had to inform them that, sorry I can’t that day.

 

[Xantippe]

I think things got off the rails because one poster was waving around the “SAHMing is the hardest job in the world” bloody shirt when nobody had said that at all. So you had one person making a straw-argument that nobody brought up and SAHMs responding to that because they didn’t think of it as the HAARDEST JARB IN THE WERLD, but they did think of it as something they took seriously as a vocation and worked hard at.

**Anyway, all around the world, working (outside the home) mothers respond to the demands of balancing kids and work by waiting as long as they biologically can before having kids and then having 1 or 2. See Singapore, Germany, Sweden, most of the United States, Canada, etc. And since most women work outside the home, mothers or not, the world of having more kids that that shrinks and becomes socially invisible outside of narrow subcultures. **

I certainly would not be posting on this thread if I had one child. I’d be in better physical health and bedridden so many days, for one. The experiences of mothering are different when you have very few children very late in life and allow the paid-village to do a lot of the heavy lifting.

Right. That’s one way to fix things.

 

[Lea101]

This thread is ridiculous my mom worked all her life, she had 4 kids, and all of us were fine! And I have lots of friends whose parents worked too, they’re all fine. My mother never really had time for me, (but it is because I’m the middle child, and honestly, nobody really likes the middle kid as much as the oldest or youngest!) but there’s nothing wrong with me! And if there is, it would be because my darling mom died when a girl probably needs her the most (teens). I do not resent her at all and I love her so much. Working mothers can be as amazing as a SAHM if they want to be. It’s also difficult for them to juggle work and family, especially when there’s more pressure for mothers to be “more involved” than the father, so I honestly feel like they should be given some recognition.

That being said though, SAHMs are awesome for choosing to, well stay at home. Taking care of kids all day must be so stressful, especially if it’s just you+the kids. I cannot do it, definitely.

There seem to be some sort of a patronizing behavior between the two teams. Both sides are incredibly great women and deserve recognition. Personally, I am not going to study hard all my life just so I could end up staying at home with the kids, but that’s just my opinion. I know lots who done that and wow they’re incredible.

SAHMs are not better mothers than working moms. Working moms are not more fulfilled/successful than SAHMs (the definition of fulfilment can vary between people, we all know that). I think all of us can agree on these points. If not, then well…get off your high horse

I think we tend to only think of who is better when really, all that matters is how the kids turn out. Don’t judge what a mother chooses to do if the kids are happy at the end of the day.

 

[Abn]

Don’t believe that men earn more than women. Here are women in 2015 who make millions & earn more than most men do-Adele (Adele Laurie Blue Adkins), Ariana Grande, Selena Marie Gomez, Lady Gaga, Katy E. Perry, Demi Lovato (Demetria Devonne Lovato), Beyonce, etc. These women make millions & more than most men including White men. Then why do they keep saying men earn more than women?

 

[JimG]

I have never in my life seen a job posting which offered different salaries to women and men.

 

[bitterhope]

I have never in my life seen a job posting which offered different salaries to women and men.

I agree. I know many women that make more than their husbands. It has to do with the job not the gender.

 

[Sarcelle]

I have never in my life seen a job posting which offered different salaries to women and men.

Yes. If it were true that women were always paid less than men, employers would preferentially hire women. This is why a lot of manufacturers move their factory offshore, so they can pay less for the same job.

 

[Xantippe]

Yes. If it were true that women were always paid less than men, employers would preferentially hire women. This is why a lot of manufacturers move their factory offshore, so they can pay less for the same job.

Well, there are a lot of low-end jobs that are heavy to female workers.

And those off-shore factories do employ a lot of women.

 

[Sarcelle]

Well, there are a lot of low-end jobs that are heavy to female workers.

And those off-shore factories do employ a lot of women.

Yes, I was about to say something to that effect.

A lot of off-shore factories preferentially hire women because they are paid less than men.

 

[gracepoole]

Don’t believe that men earn more than women. Here are women in 2015 who make millions & earn more than most men do-Adele (Adele Laurie Blue Adkins), Ariana Grande, Selena Marie Gomez, Lady Gaga, Katy E. Perry, Demi Lovato (Demetria Devonne Lovato), Beyonce, etc. These women make millions & more than most men including White men. Then why do they keep saying men earn more than women?

Probably because it’s fact and the folks saying so aren’t simply relying on a list of celebrity exceptions to make a claim.

iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discrimination

 

[JimG]

I still haven’t seen any job postings with a differential between men and women. Nor have I seen a study which provided any such example.

I have, early in my work history, known of companies which paid a slightly higher wage to married men as opposed to single men, but that has long since gone by the wayside.

If any employer were to post an opening advertising the same job for women at 80% of the rate for men, the EEOC would descend on such a company in a heartbeat.

 

[misspriss]

I still haven’t seen any job postings with a differential between men and women. Nor have I seen a study which provided any such example.

I have, early in my work history, known of companies which paid a slightly higher wage to married men as opposed to single men, but that has long since gone by the wayside.

If any employer were to post an opening advertising the same job for women at 80% of the rate for men, the EEOC would descend on such a company in a heartbeat.

Ever seen a job positing “Salary DOE” or “Salary between XXK-XXK”…or just no salary listed at all.

 

[LilyM]

Ever seen a job positing “Salary DOE” or “Salary between XXK-XXK”…or just no salary listed at all.

Exactly. Companies aren’t as blatant as to advertise the fact they will pay less to women, but may well offer female hirees less than they would a male (relying on the fact that a person will assume the same offer has been made to everyone or that everyone in the same position is being paid the same)

 

[anon67074017]

I am against International Women’s Day due to the socialist roots of the holiday. I am not against the idea of honoring women though. International Women’s Day was created by socialists and celebrated by the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia. It is associated with a very violent ideology. Would we celebrate a holiday associated with the Nazis? I do not think so. Why can’t we hold communism to the same standard?