Quote:
Originally posted by Taualumna
(women without families make more money than women who do because there is less outside stress, making them more productive and are more likely to be promoted quicker than women with family),
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I do agree with this... but I am looking at it from a different point of view....
Yes single people still have to cook, clean, pay bills, have normal stresses of life---- "life" is essentially the same for us all regardless of martial status or the number of kids.
But women without kids also have more time to be focused at work-- you don't have a kid calling to let you know they arrived home from school, or the school nurse calling to say your kid is sick and come now. When the nurse calls with a sick kid you drop everything and go--sick kid and nurse don't care that you have a looming deadline. Those things make a difference in a career. Few women can say their employer is 100% understanding. There are such things as FMLA that help in major cases--but the random day of "my kid is puking" doesn't qualify for FMLA. Even the dreaded chicken pox doesn't qualify, when my youngest got them I was home a week with him. My boss at the time was understanding, but then the guilt sets in- you know you need to be at work but your kid needs you.
It is a fine line to balance work and kids. There are kid things I skip-with guilt. Like my sons Thanksgiving dinner at school-- I had been with this company for 2 months and didn't want to leave for 2 hours for lunch--so my husband went instead. Our son had one of us there-and I didn't have to ask for time off at work.
Regarding men and how they view it in the workplace. Men generally aren't the ones to take off- sick kids are the mom's job. I have found men with stay at home wives are the worst for compassion-- they never have to deal with it, so they don't get the rushing out of work. They seems to overlook that the rush out also entails my arms full of whatever I need to work from home that afternoon. Many times I have heard "enjoy your afternoon off" my response is "between getting puked on and the report due at the end of the day- I will try-thanks"
So yes, anyone has the same stresses in life--but with kids those stresses overflow into work-since puking, chicken pox and the school nurse don't care what deadlines are there--and women do have to work harder tomake sure it all gets done.