Like many other respondents, I am puzzled, and put off, by the dichotomy drawn between having and raising children and "contributing to society.’
Many people who work outside the home are in jobs that “contribute to society” very marginally, if at all. Flipping burgers at McDonald’s? Selling products at Toys R Us, or GameStop? Manufacturing utterly useless stuff that is then marketed to folks as “fashion”? Designing television advertising campaigns for, for instance, perfume? Any one of us can easily think of lots and lots of “occupations,” both blue-collar and white-collar, that contribute very little to society in any positive way – they just produce profits for employers, and income for the worker.
How is any of this remotely as valuable as raising chidren?
Sure, if a person is a fire fighter, a physician or nurse, a mental health worker, a garbage collector, a researcher, a policeman (etc., etc., etc.), that person can be making a valuable contribution to society. There are a bunch of highly important public service (and “private” service) occupations that really do make a difference. But an awful lot of employees in this society have jobs that serve only to generate private wealth – often at the expense of the public good.
How is the mother who chooses to use day care so she can pursue a career in corporate law “contributing to society” by that choice? (For that matter, in respect to Hermione’s position, one could say the same thing about the father who chooses a profession that takes him away from home from 6 am to 8 pm, in furtherance of his corporate law career. Either of them is putting personal reward, whether financial or other, ahead of both family obligations and the public good.)
As a man, I’m continually astounded at how frequently people (mostly women, but not always…) argue that a mother’s (or father’s) choosing to stay home with the kids is somehow less than pursuing a career. I’m in a public-service career, so at least I feel like what I do is contributing to peoples’ well-being, and not just making somebody rich; but if I could just bag it and stay home, and know that we’d still have a roof over our heads, I’d do that in a minute. Fortunately, I’m blessed with a wife who did stay home with the kids when they were little, and who now teaches in their school – so I can go to the office and at least not worry, even if I’d rather be with my family.
