I read this and thought I’d share. Seems NYTimes has figured out the solution. Women are having babies at the wrong time. Quote: “The issue, in general, comes down to time. Children require a lot of it, especially in the years before they start school, and mothers spend disproportionately more time than fathers on child care and related responsibilities. This seems to be particularly problematic for women building their careers, when they might have to work hardest and prove themselves most, and less so for women who have already established some seniority or who have not yet started careers. Women are more likely to reduce their work hours, take time off, turn down a promotion or quit their jobs to care for family. Even in families in which both parents work full time, women spend almost double the time on housework and child care. And when women work fewer hours, they are paid disproportionately less and become less likely to get raises or promotions. “This shows that the birth of a child is really when the gender earnings gap really grows,” said Danielle H. Sandler, a senior economist at the Census Bureau and an author of the paper.” Thoughts welcomed. https://nyti.ms/2v1Z3Ae
I don’t disagree- and I’m probably in the minority here, but I’m happy to get paid less in turn for a more flexible schedule, more time off, less working hours , etc during these years where my kids need me.
Not you this is true for my wife too and most of my other friends wives too. But this probably have to do with how we all grew up and also child attachment to mother is always more in first 5-10 years due to the nourishment they get.
You are in the majority and there's nothing wrong with it!
This is the bitter truth, try telling it to the radical leftists
Lol. I’m a leftist. Definitely not radical though so maybe a centrist? 🤔
Unfortunately their bodies don’t agree with pushing off kids until your career is set and stable so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s sexist
No it’s biology. Older breeders have a higher likelihood of developmental issues. Pregnancies are higher risk. And fertility decreases. Companies should be aware of this and provide more benefits and safeguards for prospective parents.
Great share! Hard to believe the dynamics of career growth and child raising (both require more hours than a day allows) still need to articulated. What are people being taught in college?
100% agree. Woman and men are different and woman are more likely to let go of some of their ambition to raise their children. I don’t think we can artificially fix this w policies. Freakanomics did interviews w woman CEOs and although some are bitter, PepsiCo CEO referenced this exactly as the biggest reason men’s careers advance further than woman’s.
This is not necessarily intrinsic as you imply but strongly influenced by culture. And culture can change. The fact is that women are judged more harshly for working while their children are young. And, generally speaking, are responsible for more work around the house regardless of their work status. Maybe instead of acting like “welp, I guess that’s just how it is” we could recognize the very real part many of us play in enforcing these roles for women. That’s what sexism is, folks.
@joanharris. Sorry. I don’t buy it. When men start pushing babies out of them then we can act like our roles in family and society are the same. This is not sexism. It is biology. I look at this article in light that there are very easy to answer reasons why a pay gap occurs. That of course may not be all the reasons but let’s not just ignore this because it helps make an argument you want to believe in.
Physically speaking, the healthiest years to have kids are in your early twenties, but a lot of us are still in college then. It's too bad motherhood is still looked down on as "letting go of her ambition" and "taking time off" instead of the vital social role it is.
It's also bad that men are looked down upon if they choose to spend more time helping with the kids instead of pursuing their career aggressively.
Definitely.
Baby with Down syndrome chance at 40 is 10 times higher than at 30
Yeah, going from like 0.06% chance to 0.6%. Stop scaring women into having kids with the whole "time bomb" rhetoric
Jordan Peterson has been pointing this out for a while, that this is another key factor in the wage gap, arguing that it’s not necessarily sexism
I think you mean it’s not “always” sexism. Sometimes it is just sexism. For anyone else reading, this article isn’t implying that women who do the same work as men should get paid less for raising kids. It is simply stating that, as a gender group in aggregate, one contributor to the pay gap is the time off for raising kids.
Also even if it _did_ explain the entire wage gap: it still points to an uneven burden if women are taking all the loss in order to have a family.
Before 25 is during or right after college for most people, a time when they probably don't have a lot of money for having a baby. Plus the average age of marriage is 27-29 so before 25 most people probably haven't even met their future spouse. After 35 there are a lot of possible health complications to having a baby. I don't think this "solves" anything for most people.
Our social values need to prioritize parenthood more. Happier parents, healthier kids -> happier and healthier adults down the line. As an individual it makes little sense to do that when pay has flatlined and the cost of education is still exploding. The only way to become financially secure is to work your butt of all those early years.
Other possible solutions: maybe husbands/dads spend more time on child raising activities so that women don’t have to take so much time out of their careers for these things.
My wife and I had to discuss this when we started having kids. She ended up switching to part time and taking on more childcare while I remained full time. The main reason for this: I already made significantly more than her. So, at least for us, the wage gap was already present long before kids.
I didn’t read the article but are you disagreeing with this? I would say in today’s world, women would typically take more time off than men to raise kids which in turn impacts the woman’s wage growth. NYT is not making woman make this decision. Each set of parents make this decision to decide what is best for their family.