Working and motherhood: policy, culture or personal choice?

[ondramiketa]

Czech here. The problem in our country is that woman who have two children can recieve pay for up to 6 years without working only taking care of the children. So they lose a lot of qualification during that time. But I wouldn’t consider option for parents to care for their children themselfs a bad thing even if this is the cost.

[ewaoconnor]

Many mothers, especially those with young children, would rather take care of their own children than pay strangers to do so. It’s time we start valuing parents’ hard work and allow them to care for their children if they choose to. The whole society benefits from this, even if it’s not reflected in GDP calculations.

[michaeldesmondmatthews]

Some people are obsessed with having a "career". Most people will never have a career. Just a job that pays bills.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

[markmurray]

In Spain, a relatively new scheme I think is a big help is giving mothers and fathers 4 months maternity/paternity leave and public crèche were the fees are based on income.

Too early to decide it fully solves the issue but from what I have seen it makes a difference compared to previous ways.

[seadsejfovic]

and who decided that we should be working towards Women in the workforce? why choose to be an unfulfilled wage slave over the beauty and freedom of motherhood.... We should be trying to use our technology to work less not more

[Kim-egw]

This is perhaps one of the biggest societal problems that needs to be solved this century, and my hunch is that jobs are going away so the issue solves itself organically when a strong UBI comes.

[orso]

Why do you want to normalise parents leaving their children to be raised by strangers and to pour their lives into careers?

Ideologies like this is what has lead to ensuring every single person becomes a taxable puppet and make sure that children are raised by the state and not by families

[bluezima]

That are the most beautiful glasses I've seen so far, wheere are they from^^??

[GrandTerr]

I think mothers should be get periodic updates on knowledge and their own companies so their memoties stay fresh and up to date. We can give 1-2 weeks a quarter of holidays to fathers so mothers can get up to date.
It should be kept light so it doesn't make the mother feel like she switches life mods frequently.

[sayenka]

Being a mother is a 24/7 job. They ARE in the workforce, raising future tax payers. They just don't receive any compensation for it. Not from the state and not from the husband they are supporting with free housekeeping and childrearing. Being a mother is a thankless endeavor. That's why a lot of women are deciding against it in light of better options. Provide mothers with support!

[regardtbusch]

Improveibg the balance of child care between the two parents is only a part of the problem. Societies need to find a way to balance the burden of child rareing between parents and non parents if we want to solve the demographics crisis.

[LudihemicarBg]

Eastern European here. You are very wrong, women here return to work after a generous maternity leave, without losing their job or being discriminated against. Unlike my wife who in Western Europe got a 4-month leave and kicked out from her main project because of the pregnancy

[romkobomko]

Corporations be feeling sad for money they didn't gain

[yup]

Un paid house work
Mothers need to be paid
Wives need to be paid
Wow amazing

[catnappernellie]

Almost like they shouldn’t be working 😮

[amymagdaleneta]

Missing the bit that during the communist times, in those post-communist countries, mother's could easily return to the workplace, hmm, wonder what happened

[ImogenWatson]

The first two seconds I thought it was Gypsies