What makes men so special? From the days of Adam and Eve to modern society, it seems to be that men are viewed as supreme beings. Is this because men are from Mars and women are from Venus? It must be. Clearly being from Mar gives one the power of being superior to other beings, which includes being pardon from household duties. This answer is about as ludicrous as the real answer. The fact is that women earn less money than men because they are mothers is preposterous. Mind you, men wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for their mothers, but this fact seems to slip their minds. This slight detail is something that is just ignored by men. I just do not understand how in the 21st century men earn far higher incomes than women, especially women that have the exact same or even better credentials then them. It is beyond frustrating to read that “the average earnings of all female workers in 1999 were 59 percent of men’s earnings” (Critenden 93). Also, it is frustrating to still read how a woman’s world is seen inside the household and not outside of it.
In her article “The Mommy Tax” Critenden cites one unbelievably scary statistic, which is the fact that a couple that makes a combined income of $81,500 per year will lose $1.35 million if they have a child (Critenden 89). That’s not exactly pocket change. “People need to know that once you have a child you’ll definitely be poorer” (Critenden 93). This clearly entices me to want to have kids. I mean it is not rocket science to understand that children are expensive. However, Critenden is not talking about spending money on a child and his or her necessities in life such as clothes, education, food, etc. What Critenden is referring to in her article is the fact that children can make a mother poorer because, as a result of having a child, a woman will most likely not be able to earn the income that she was making prior to having that child. If a woman decides to have more than one child, forget it, the working world is even less accommodating.
All in all, it is disheartening to read all the statistics to show how the odds are really stacked against women. For women “the price of success included the lack of parental obligations” (Critenden 108). Why should women living in the United States have to deal with an either/or scenario? One would assume that the United States would be more children friendly. However, clearly it is not. After realizing that the United States’ Mommy Tax is almost 20% and reading that France has the lowest Mommy Tax, roughly 8-10%, I am considering relocating (Critenden 90). I mean why not live in the land of baguettes, brie and a low Mommy Tax.
However, besides the fact that I enjoyed Critenden’s article, even though it was somewhat depressing, I also found Barbara Ehrenreich’s article “Maid to Order” to be a great read. Similarly to Critenden, Ehrenreich shows how women are more or less oppressed by men. Not only am I a fan of hers (I thoroughly enjoyed Nickel and Dimed), but I think that she paints household duties of women in an interesting light. She makes many points that I find fascinating. It is true that women perform various household duties i.e. cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc, without ever getting a dime for it. Even when children perform household chores, they generally get some kind of allowance. But mothers do not get anything. I mean maybe they get a thank you or a hug, but they definitely do not get any monetary rewards. Thus, I find it interesting how she shows that women have had enough of taking care of the household and picking up after men and wanted some equality within the household. While middle to upper class women win and are alleviated of some of their household duties, this help is not coming from their husbands. Let me remind you, that men are clearly too good and almighty to pick up socks and scrub floors. Thus, rather than splitting the duties between a husband and wife, it seems that society went in a different direction and decided to bring in a third party: cleaning services. Ehrenreich shows how cleaning services just reiterate the fact that household work is a woman’s duty. Thus, while housewives no longer perform the majority of household chores, that does not mean that women are still not doing these tasks. At the end of the day women are still cooking and cleaning.
Let me just say that after reading Ehrenreich’s article, I realized that I never want to employ a cleaning-service. Not only does she show how it is somewhat degrading, she always explains how these services do not really clean. Nevertheless, I think that it is interesting to see how she describes America’s obsession with cleaning services as disturbing. “Almost everyone complains about violent video games, but paid housecleaning has the same consequence-abolishing effect: you blast the villain into a mist of blood droplets and move right along; you drop the socks knowing they will eventually levitate, laundered and folded, back to their normal dwelling place” (Ehrenreich 12). Overall, I think that Ehrenreich’s article is interesting and puts things in a different perspective, which seems to be the nature of her writing.
I also found Critenden's article depressing. It is not encouraging to know that I will lose money if I want to have children. However, I also was intrigued by Maria Cristina Rangel's article about her struggle to provide for herself and her family. Rangel was in an interesting situation because she was a college graduate, a mother, and unemployed/ on well fare. Listening to her story from her own words left me feeling very sympathetic towards this woman. I was also left with some anger towards the wellfare department and their presumptuous posters that decorated the halls. "Think of your children... Whose footsteps do you want to see them follow in?" (Rangel, 191). Since reading this statement second hand still had enough power to make me cringe, I can't imagine how it made Rangel feel. Obviously Rangel was thinking of her child when she went to college and earned her degree, even though a lot of things were holding her back. Obviously Rangel was still thinking of her child at the very moment she was allowing the wellfare officer to berate her with ridiculous questions. The assumptions that Rangel, and every other woman who entered the building, were irresponsible people who didn't care about their children is offensive and just wrong overall.
ReplyDeleteReading Rangel's story in her own words no doubt leaves me biased to her account. However, reading about her struggles to be able to care for her child and get a job make me wonder about the problems we have with the system, instead of individual problems. Perhaps the government should also consider that it is society's fault, not a ton of individual people's.
I definately agree with lots of things your saying, however I feel like we shouldn't fully throw ourselves into believing everything on this article. This article by Critenden uses facts and information from over ten years ago! So much has happened; twin towers have fallen, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt are so over (or so we think), Lady Gaga was unleashed upon the world and most importantly The economy has taken us on a plummeting ride these past few years. I believe with so much change, perhaps the roles of men and women have changed to. Maybe even the Hollywood baby craze has even helped women and made workplaces for accomodating for women. Critenden also highlights the fact that having a child will generally force a great loss in income over the years. That may be true, but maybe alot of these parents don't care. Perhaps they would sooner spend time with the child they brought into the world rather than slave over a document. I think Critenden's article is very selective in what type of "Mommy Tax" there is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brittany. Its tough not to believe everything you read, especially when its so shocking, but I think the point that needs to be taken in, or the question that needs to be answered, is how have we really changed? But not in the longterm, big picture kind of way, but like in the last decade. Have we moved forward as far as how many women attend college? How many go back to school after having children? Or how many work after having children? I think that education is the single handledly most effective tool that can be given to a person in this country. With education, a good education, anything is possible. I really hope that women continue to outnumber men in college attendance, and continue to pursue advanced careers in whatever it is that they are deciding to do.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of sounding like a stereotypical wallstreet business man, while I am frustrated that if I choose to leave the work force to have children, I will be foregoing a higher salary, economically this does make sense, and part of the mommy tax article did focus on the economics behind this. Again, don't get me wrong, I wish this weren't the case because in my dream world, I want to be the CEO or Executive Director of a company, and preferably a large non-profit like the American Red Cross or American Cancer Society. That being said, on the economics side of this it makes sense that we would forego higher salaries. It is most certainly not unheard of for women to go back to work and then realize they need or WANT to quit their jobs for an extended period of time, and I'm talking several years here. That is a huge risk for a company. And how many of us know people with children who have to run to daycare to pick up a sick child? These constant interruptions mean less face time at work which can be crucial depending on your job, such as a lawyer. It also means that these constant interruptions are time off from work, which means less productivity. The entire point of a business is to MINIMIZE costs and maximize profits and productivity. Insurance for women who plan on having kids is a much larger cost than a man who cannot have kids. I think it goes back to our stereotypical gender roles. If it was more common for men to be the ones to leave work to pick up a sick child from daycare or leave for PTA meetings and parent-teacher conferences, perhaps businesses would think twice about men with children.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting to look at the influence that the "Hollywood baby craze" ,which Brittany raised in her comment, has had on women in general and specifically mothers. I disagree that it's helped women or made workplaces more accommodating, in fact I would argue the opposite. Celebrities with babies in the media are glamorized. Magazines show their lives with children as generally similar to pre-child lifestyles, but with the added joy that children bring. They never show the hard work, the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice that having children involves. For celebrity women, there is significantly less physical labor involved because they have the resources to employ an entire staff of people to work with things like cooking, cleaning, laundry, and childcare. The media glamorizes the joys of motherhood without showing how it can be a burden, especially financially. Workplaces can be influenced by this as well, because they are shown celebrity mothers who "do it all" and still look beautiful and carefree, which could make them less sympathetic to the burdens of the working mother.
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ReplyDeleteKatrina,
ReplyDeleteI agree with pretty much everything you bring up in your post. The "mommy tax", wage gaps, it really is all ridiculous and unfair. The only part I would disagree with was your discussion of Ehrenreich. I had problems with her article to begin with. I don't think she gives men enough credit in the household. Sure women have traditionaly been the one to do chores around the house like laundry and dishes. But men have also had the responsibility of chores as well. Mowing the lawn, tending the garden, chopping wood, and other odd jobs around the house I specifically remember my dad doing. Of course sometimes my mom would have tend the garden and my dad would take care of the laundry. Unfortunately, most of the time I was the one doing both the "masculine" and the "feminine" chores around the house. Maybe it's just my biased background, but when I think of a family I think of both the wife and husband working together on the chores around the house.