Women’s Work

Children are important.  Without children, there would be no future tax-payers.  Without tax-payers, there would be no public healthcare, education, transport, roads, or people to take care of us in our old age.  Childcare is an issue for everyone in society, yet society does almost nothing to support mothers. (Perhaps I should say ‘parents’ but fathers currently make up only 2-5% of primary carers).

Of course women have been bringing up children for thousands of years without any help, so it suits society to assume that the work involved must therefore be easy and somehow innate.  This also leads new mothers – suddenly overwhelmed by the reality of exactly how hard it is to be almost solely responsible for the full-time care of an infant – feeling confused and inadequate, and thinking that it must be just them personally who are not feeling the euphoria of new baby joy … which results in them keeping quiet about it and pretending that all is well, and so the ‘conspiracy of silence’ remains unchallenged.  (See Susan Maushart’s book The Mask of Motherhood: How mothering changes everything and why we pretend it doesn’t).

Traditionally, there was at least some recognition and respect for what was regarded as ‘women’s work’, but now that women have the option to put their children into childcare and return to paid work as soon as possible after giving birth, it seems that women who choose to stay at home with their children are seen as somehow lacking (we all know that taking care of children 24/7 involves a relentless cycle of menial tasks – it’s not intellectually stimulating) … as if they are not doing anything worthwhile!

Mothers who are ‘juggling’ paid work PLUS ‘the second shift’ at home are also seen as somewhat second-class – they’re no longer taken seriously in the office as they’re not available 60-70 hours a week i.e. their career is no longer their first priority.  (And these mothers are possibly already feeling guilty at having to leave their kids in the care of others).

These perceptions certainly serve the interests of a capitalist society which needs workers and spenders, but do they serve the interests of children?

I would like to see society supporting mothers by recognising that raising children is surely the most important job in the world, (and one of the most difficult), and creating more options for mothers to take care of their children as they see fit.