Working women almost certainly caused the credit crunch

SingleSue

The thing is, being a stay at home mum (or dad), is fun for a while but after a while it becomes rather boring and you get a sense of loss of identity.

You are no longer Joe (or Jo) Bloggs but you are Brian's/Bethany's mum, David's/Davina's wife/husband or the man/woman at number 24.

People also perceive you slightly differently, you go from being an intelligent person (in the eyes of others) to being someone where others feel the need to explain words or terms to you...don't ask me why they do that but it is a real bugbear of mine. I may not be working and I may be bringing up children but I am not braindead yet!

I enjoyed the freedom of being a stop at home mum for around a year....then my brain was itching to get back into action.

Mind you, when I was working and had children, all I wanted to be was a stop at home mum!

Grass is greener and all that.....

lostinrates

SingleSue wrote: »

The thing is, being a stay at home mum (or dad), is fun for a while but after a while it becomes rather boring and you get a sense of loss of identity.

You are no longer Joe (or Jo) Bloggs but you are Brian's/Bethany's mum, David's/Davina's wife/husband or the man/woman at number 24.

People also perceive you slightly differently, you go from being an intelligent person (in the eyes of others) to being someone where others feel the need to explain words or terms to you...don't ask me why they do that but it is a real bugbear of mine. I may not be working and I may be bringing up children but I am not braindead yet!

I enjoyed the freedom of being a stop at home mum for around a year....then my brain was itching to get back into action.

Mind you, when I was working and had children, all I wanted to be was a stop at home mum!

Grass is greener and all that.....

I think this all rings very true.

Ironically if I were working I'd [STRIKE]probably[/STRIKE] almost certainly not be making time to, for example, be reading classic texts in their original langauges. I'd always read whatever, I'd give up sleep beofre books, but these days I have the time to read books that I might need to read with a dictionary by my side.

bathgatebuyer

And then I'd have a level playing field when it came to trying to buy a place to live! I'm always against 2 salary households so my paltry single income isn't enough.

I wouldn't be short of things to do if I wasn't working - kids would only interfere with that though.

lucielou5

I rarely get invoved in the Stay At Home vs Working Mums debate. It usually gets way too personal.

My partner was a Stay At Home Dad to our son for a long time. He loved it.
He would go on short research trips with the little one (for his dissertation) and led a varied and active week. Now he is at work 9-6 and feels very constrained.

I could get a job too but we are both against our son going into childcare at the moment so we live off one wage. Thats our choice.

treliac

ad9898 wrote: »

I haven't read the whole thread, but I would just like to say my piece, women should know their place, the kitchen.:D

Ah, ad, I expect you too know your place and are fully educated, skilled, equipped and financially prepared to keep your little lady in exactly the manner to which she is accustomed and should expect from you.

treliac

piggeh wrote: »

Wow, it's just like the surgery one then...

Man & his son are out hiking when they have an accident and are both rushed to hospital. The boy is rushed into the operating room where the surgeon says "I cant operate on this boy, he's my son".

How can this be?

The surgeon's his mother!

zedyy

lol ireland? they are broke.

fc123

The phrase 'Having it all' always wound me up a bit.

I always felt I only had a little bit of each thing, and only performed each role to 50% ....not cos I was rubbish, but, despite having a lot of stamina, it was impossible to do everything to 100%; wife, mother and boss.

There was period when DD was toddler and son was around 10, that I could have quite happily just stayed at home. the logistics of my life were a nightmare...but we would have been repo'd and ended back in Nil by Mouth flat....so I kept on going.

It's nice now though......and the kids don't seem to have issues and OH is happy as we are now making up for lost time.


There is so much snappiness between the SAH and Working mums. In my experience, those who could afford to SAH (in nice living space in nice areas) did so and those that couldn't afford to, didn't.

GlasweJen

harrup wrote: »

With all due respect - if this is how you regard women raising a family i.e " sitting about the house " ....then you still have a lot to learn.

I'm I the only one thinking that those "antiquated" females who ...erm..."sit about the house" with their family do so - because they already HAVE a job? In raising their children, taking care of the microsociety - i.e. their family? Don't you think it's ironic that if one looks after OTHER peoples children and takes care of OTHER peoples houses, one is "working" but the same curiously doesn't apply to ones own kids or home. Baffling.

I don't have children and do work - but this is a walk in the park compared to my friends with a young family. To equate their work to "doing nothing" is astounding. Especially when coming from a woman!

As to whether you will make a more positive contribution to society in becoming a doctor vs. baking carrot cakes - well, that depends. Will you be a dedicated, engaged, focused doctor? Or a sloppy, dismissive, arrogant one whose main impetus for work is money and status?

If it's the latter you might want to reconsider on the carrot baking and ironing. A good carrot cake is hard to find - a sloppy part-time doctor not so much.

As it happens i know AN personally and she is anything but sloppy but aside from that your answer astounds me! Why should women be refused the right to work because they happen to carry children? What about an infertile woman, should she be made to stay at home in an empty house solely to ensure that hubbies tea is on the table when he comes in and that his shirts are ironed for work the next morning?

Why should I or AN for that matter be forced to stay at home when we both did better at school than either of our partners, we're both predicted for 1st at uni (better than our partners) and we are both ambitious just like the men in our lives? Why shouldn't we go to medical school and earn a decent living? What's wrong with making employment by hiring a child minder or a nanny so that we can go to work in the morning safe in the knowledge that should one income dry up then we have another to fall back on?

get real, women didn't cause the credit crunch, irresponsible lending did.

harrup

GlasweJen wrote: »

As it happens i know AN personally and she is anything but sloppy but aside from that your answer astounds me! Why should women be refused the right to work because they happen to carry children? What about an infertile woman, should she be made to stay at home in an empty house solely to ensure that hubbies tea is on the table when he comes in and that his shirts are ironed for work the next morning?

Why should I or AN for that matter be forced to stay at home when we both did better at school than either of our partners, we're both predicted for 1st at uni (better than our partners) and we are both ambitious just like the men in our lives? Why shouldn't we go to medical school and earn a decent living? What's wrong with making employment by hiring a child minder or a nanny so that we can go to work in the morning safe in the knowledge that should one income dry up then we have another to fall back on?

get real, women didn't cause the credit crunch, irresponsible lending did.

Huh???

Whilst your missionary zeal in leaping to AD's "defense" is most impressive -WHAT could you be ranting about? Who here said that women caused the credit crunch? Or that they SHOULD stay at home? I think you missed the gist. By several miles.

Still, thank you. Picturing the cited infertile women being chained at home whilst meekly ironing made me roar with laughter. I mean....what the heck?????

You sound exceedingly young. The world is totally your oyster , so you go, girl! Be all you can and want to be...and please, report back here after you had a couple of babies, and a home to run, and a full time job, and, and. Unless you are too shattered to type from all the glory of your "right" to self-fulfilment. Which is a possibility.

Reality check: my working friends with young children are knackered. Leaving their young children every day at nursery or a minder is emotionally draining. The logistical nightmare of finding reliable backups if the minder is sick, the child is ill and can't go to nursery, yada, yada... and the inconvenience of having only 24 hours in the day when they need 32, likewise. Continuously feeling that they are always short changing something or someone - their work, their kids, their partners, themselves, their friends - ditto.

Haven't had any life satisfaction reports from the ironing, infertile gals staying at home, but will keep you posted ASAP when I find any!