Issue Analysis • What are some of the strengths associated with the Pro side of the issue? What are some of the weaknesses? The Pro side of the issue gives women the encouragement to make the decision for “opting out” of their careers because of the commitments to childrearing and family. The most beneficial strengths of the Pro side of this issue are that children and one’s family benefit because otherwise children would spend the hours during which the parents are working away from home. This time would be spent in a daycare with a babysitter, or in another program, and the mother would spend numerous hours away from her family. This leaves the child or children without the beneficial features that parents provide that foster …show more content…
The benefits of a mother “opting out” of work may out weight the benefits of placing a child or children in daycare, with a babysitter, or other programs. Also a mother’s commitment to family by opting out of work may be beneficial to the strength and successful of her family and may ensure the less likelihood of divorce. A husband may always depend on his wife as far as taking care of the daily needs of the family and household. There are several weaknesses associated with “opting out.” One weakness associated with “opting out” of working is that certain women may possess a resentful attitude toward her husband and children for the loss of her …show more content…
Indeed if women intend to make a difference in the workplace it is their actions that will make the difference. If women demanded better work schedules, daycare centers in the workplace, or daycare compensation or reimbursement they may enable themselves to maintain their careers and still take care of their families more effectively. When parents take into account both of their incomes then one parent not working may be counterproductive and not beneficial for the family (Guest, 2011). Indeed women have the choice of either returning to work after childbirth or staying home with the child or children whichever option is best is for each woman to decide based on her
It is time we stop treating child care as a side issue or a women’s issue, and treat it like the priority that it is. Paternity leave is good for women's careers. “When childcare responsibilities fall exclusively on the mother, the effect is to reduce women’s wages. Time out of the labor force deprives women of experience and promotions. When men shoulder more of the childcare burden, the effect is lessened (“The Benefits of Paternity Leave”).” Paid family leave has become an important way to signal to employees that the company is invested in them. People feel their company is committed to them in the long term. Overall, paid family leave helps keep people in the workforce after they have children. “When more workers are able to take leave, they are more likely to choose to remain in the labor market. Paid parental leave is associated with higher employment in economies around the world (Covert)”.
Since the beginning of time, mothers have always cared for their children. At-home moms taught and raised their kids until they were old enough to live on their own. As millenniums passed, moms would teach their daughters the life of a woman, cooking and cleaning for the male members of the family. As the mid-1900s came, mothers stopped staying home and began to work outside the comforts of their houses. With no one to take care of the children, a new industry was formed: childcare centers and daycares. Children flooded these businesses when their parents were at work and stayed until one parent got off. Daycares made a mother’s life easier when she went to work, knowing her kids were cared for. Being a childcare director would be a needed
As more and more women continue to move into the workplace, hot debate has arisen surrounding the issues of work and family balance. Many female managers and professionals with young families are leaving the fast track for what has become known as the “mommy track.” Today, as young people are applying for jobs, many now take into consideration a company’s values of a work and life balance. Some say that the pressures of maternity are becoming an obstacle for many women who wish to continue their climb up the corporate ladder. Often times when women become pregnant, they are forced to abandon their careers. Therefore, the following question has aroused many controversial arguments: can women obtain high standards of success in their careers and maintain the best possible home life?
How does the cost of child care influence the decisions of mothers with young children?
With no pay and the risk of losing their jobs--if additional time is requested--parents return to work in as little as two weeks after the birth of a child. This results in the absence of one or both parents during the most crucial part of a child’s life—the first year of life. Ultimately, it is the children who will suffer. The events that take place in the early years of a child life, as well as the people that surround, will influence who they become. Children need love and guidance from their parents. Babies can learn so much, parents have the time to teach them and watch them grow. It is their duty as well as their rights as parents to enjoy the first moments of life with their children. Susan J. Douglas says, “The first five years of life are so crucial to cognitive and emotional development” (Douglas Par 8). Parents often send their babies to daycare at too young of an age because they are expected to return to work and have no other choice. Others quit their job because they do not want their babies to go to daycare. This creates a financial strain on families and has lasting effects on the newborn and other young children in the home. Sharon Lerner says, “Paid parental leave frees mothers and fathers from choosing between their careers and time with their infants” (Lerner 20). Paid family leave alleviates a great deal of stress for parents who are expecting. It makes starting a family less frightening because families have enough money and time to adjust with their new lives before returning to work. This makes workers less likely to call out of upon returning and more likely to be focused on the
The effects on individuals has thus far revealed only part of the whole picture. When focus is shifted to workers with family situations, reports are revealing that time constraints are also connected to the shared working time between parents in households, with dual-earner based households and single parents meeting intensified challenges. Among these parents, women are even today continuing to take on the biggest share of family based responsibility and caretaking. This is thus making women workers, or single fathers, feel even more pressure than their workforce counterparts who have no children. The separation between workers who have no children and mothers or fathers with caretaking responsibilities has led to yet another growing divide that demands a change in policy that will address the specific conditions of workers and their families.
Men are likely to get hired if they have children and tend to get paid more. In contrast, women are less likely to get hired even though they have more quality and children. This is when the gender inequality come in. In this article “The Motherhood Penalty vs. the Fatherhood Bonus” the author presented the role and the impact between the roles of the genders. Michelle Budig, a sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst put it this way, “The inequality of gender role reveals when men get paid high for having children and women pay the biggest price for the low income” (Qtd. in Miller). According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, 71 percent of mothers are with their children working at home and 40 percent are the primary bread winner (Pew Research Center). In this perspective of women working at home and men working in career shift the qualification between them. The inequality is that employer sees the father as a commit worker and a mother as a distraction in workplaces because women have extra hours of work to do at home with their children and house chores. Claire Miller states that, “one of the worst career moves a women can make is to have children” (Claire Miller). As for the women in the United States, there are a lot of negative impact for them if they decide to have babies. The quality for them shrink to the corner while men hold the advantage of having
The IWF has found that when women take leave for their family, men are able to gain experience and therefore more earnings (Cooper). According to Lydia Frank from the Harvard Business Review, “...the largest pay gaps existed between married mothers and fathers who tell us they prioritize family at least 1-4 times per year. No pay gap existed between single men and women without children who said they never prioritize home/family over work.” The causes of the gender pay gap can be easily fixed if the government takes
It is common knowledge that a parent is considered the most efficient caregiver for their children. It’s also known that with daily responsibilities of caring for a child financially, parents partake in full-time and/or part-time employment. While needing to do so, many children attend daycare/preschool facilities. Granted, it is the parent’s responsibility to cautiously select where they decide to take their children. This is because parents know that while they are away for numerous hours of the day, their children are in the hands of another care provider and that their care would have an enormous impact on their children. At a young age, a child’s social and cognitive skills are continuing to take shape and the amount of time spent in these facilities has a resilient impact on a child’s development. With proper and superior care no matter the time spent, such positive effects on a child’s development should endure in a child’s cognitive and social development. In other words, there is a great benefit of childcare/daycare attendance on a child’s development.
“In 2002 63% of children under age five were placed in some type of non-maternal child care setting” (Peng and Robbins, 1). This large percentage is due to the fact that many families especially child bearing women have no choice but to work in order to support their growing family. Therefore the parents have the option of enrolling their children into a type of non-maternal or family based childcare facility. Even though this may what’s more convenient for most parents, there’s still a lot of thought that goes into deciding what center will offer your child the most, developing wise. “Experts agree that the first three to five years of life lay the foundation of each individual’s personality, belief systems, and ways of seeing and being in the world” (Olds, 8). So, many parents would agree that finding the right center for their child is a very big deal.
Recently women’s rights and women’s equality in the workplace has come back to the fore as a topic for discussion in government agencies and the United Nations. Whilst this is a very important topic, when it comes to time off from work when a new child is born, women in the US have some provision, whereas men have none.
Childcare has become an essential tool in an ever-changing and growing society. The cost of living in Canada has increased, and society has adapted; women have joined the work-force, and dual income families are necessary to retain a decent standard of living. Hence, there is a demand for adequate childcare. By enrolling a child into a childcare program, there are many benefits, such as allowing parents, single or not, to continue their careers and/or attend school, as well as provide children with a developmental and educational foundation that will benefit them later on in life. With these benefits there are also negatives. The cost of higher-quality childcare is expensive, and lower-income families can often not afford to enroll their children in such programs. If they are enrolled, it is likely to be in a lower-quality facility, where the children will not receive as adequate an education and experience. Additionally, if a child is enrolled in child care he/she may spend too much time away from their family, thereby loosening the familial bond. However, there are possible solutions that have the potential to outweigh the negatives. Overall, the benefits of utilizing child care in Canada outweighs the potential negatives by encouraging children’s developmental growth, giving parents time to work in order to ensure a better quality of life for their family, and provide alternatives to low-income families.
If a woman chooses motherhood, then she must lower her occupational goals and expectations. A woman with children will fall behind a childless woman in earnings, as the childless woman goes up the corporate ladder faster. Women will then risk career advancement by having children. Also, a working mother must not only juggle a family and a career, but she must find child-care as well. Child care costs are the major reason why most women end up just quitting their jobs. The majority of a working mother’s salary goes directly to the child care provider. If women were paid equal to men, more families may be able to pay for child care expenses and working mothers could continue to work and get ahead.
By businesses allowing fathers to take time from work this grants time for a father-child bond to form. Being open to share duties with her significant other and both planning for new responsibilities of parenthood is very important to be prepared for their new child. Having more support from their spouse is a way of allowing both parties to be a part of the child 's life as well as not putting all the responsibilities on one parent. Allowing men to have this option whether to take maternity leave or not is eliminating stereotyping among women and men. Fathers are the primary care providers in a family, with them being off for maternity leave there is no income coming in for the family. However if maternity leave is paid for both mother and father, the income will still be coming in but is decreasing the business income. Businesses would be failing because they would be paying workers that are not
In a society with the muajority of mothers joining or returning to the workforce, there is a growing body of research documenting the demands placed on these women and what can be done to help their transition into this new role. According to the United States’ Department of Labor, in the year 2012, 70.5% of mothers with children under the age of 18 were a part of the workforce; of these women 73.7% were employed full-time, working over 35 hours a week, and 26.3% were employed part-time, working less than 35 hours a week (United States Department of Labor, 2012). Given this information, it is becoming more important to further research how this new role as an employee affects the role of parenting and what can be done to help this transition. The intent of this paper is to compare the experiences of a working mother to the current research on the topic of working mothers. Moreover, this paper addresses the demands placed on working mothers as well as the factors that ameliorate their transition into this new role.