Sad observation about gender equality

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I am in Canada and they just announced the budget. The government said it was all about gender equality. The two main points I got out of it was they are trying to promore equal pay between men and women and better parental leave for fathers who wish to take time off work to be with their children.

On the surface I think it sounds great. IMO pay should be based on qualifications and worked performed, NOT gender. And I think it is wonderful that society recognizes the importance fathers have in their kids lives.

But… there are many downfalls.

For instance, it is promoting two working parents. I have never had children and to be honest, I don’t think I could have been happy if I had to work all day and not be able to spend time with my kids. At the end of the day, it seems like society frowns on people who are willing to live with less income if it means more family time.

And this story just breaks my heart. There is a lady at work who just tried to come back. She is in a low paying position and I strongly suspect even though the pay is low, she really needs the money. Well, her baby just did NOT do well at daycare. Her baby became so upset she wouldn’t eat anymore. So this woman called in sick because she couldn’t bear to see her baby starve herself. Now the mom is scrambling to find daycare her daughter will feel safe in. She has not showned up to work in 2 weeks. She has been told that if she does not come back in a week, she will have to resign. I see the company’s point of view. They need a worked to perform the tasks. However… should the ‘budget’ not be geared to help people like this woman? Canada has such a low birth rate they NEED immigrants. As much as I am all for immigrants, wouldn’t a more simple solution be to help Canadian women care for their child?

So sad…

 

[JimG]

Yes, if the nation has a too low fertility rate and not enough births to sustain the population, I think the governent ought to be encouraging parents to have kids and enabling one parent to stay home with them. Good families sustain a nation. But you may be right that the job of being a mother is one job that is not well respected. But it should be.

 

[ATraveller]

Every time someone from the Liberals talked about the need to have more women in the workplace, I wondered if they ever figured some women actually prefer being stay-at-home moms.
This is the problem with the equality ideologues: every aspect of society has to meet a quota. Every workplace must be 50-50 in terms of gender. Wait until they start lowering requirements to make firefighters split along gender lines. It’s been played around with in some of the minds of the ideologues out loud already.

Yes, if the nation has a too low fertility rate and not enough births to sustain the population, I think the governent ought to be encouraging parents to have kids and enabling one parent to stay home with them. Good families sustain a nation. But you may be right that the job of being a mother is one job that is not well respected. But it should be.

The problem is higher birth rates are strongly correlated with culture/religion.
There’s evidence recently from Poland that shows increased government spending on a range of things marginally boosted birth rates. But it’s one of the most inefficient ways as those who have seen the study are saying. It’s very noticeable when compared to other countries or even within countries how culture trumps government spending. To get a TFR of 2.1 in a country like Canada or Poland, I’m sure bankruptcy would be the only option for governments if finances are the only solution. Governments should definitely help where it can but ultimately it is a cultural/religious issue when it comes to increasing birth rates to sustain a country.