Women dropping out of the work force

[Ohiogal]

I was reading comments after a NYT article recently, and someone brought up this concept that sort of stuck with me.

Statistics show that women with children often drop out of the work force ..... now wouldn't our economy be more robust if every woman who wanted to work outside the home was able to?

One reason women drop out is because, if they have children, child care is ridiculously expensive .... akin to paying for college in many cases. So, it's usually the woman who ends up quitting her job to stay home with the kids, because childcare is unaffordable and usually her income is lower than her husband's. (as shown by studies).

Even if a woman only takes off say, 5 years, no one wants to hire someone who's been out of the workforce for 5 years. So this puts up an even bigger roadblock for her to return to her career.

If we had help of some kind in paying for good quality child care, more women could stay in their jobs and advance their careers the same way men get to! I know this would have helped me way back in the day when my kids were little.

[Iliyah]

1. Not women of color . . . .

[leftstreet]

6. +1

[TreasonousBastard]

2. That would make sense, which immediately makes it suspicious in some minds...

It also might, horror of horrors, lead more women to be positive forces in the workplace and society in general.

I've seen "mother friendly" (or whatever they're called) workplaces that have child care incorporated into the workplace. I don't know if that's an ideal solution, but it looks pretty good.

[MissB]

3. I left my job because of childcare.

The cost was outrageous- took most of my take home pay- but I quit because I couldn’t find a better childcare center for my kids.

They were in a childcare center that was located on the first floor of the building I worked in. I could stop down on breaks and nurse my youngest, or spend time with my toddler. That part of it was fantastic.

But one day I walked in and watched my oldest get smacked by one of the workers. She was impatient with him because he wasn’t falling asleep during quiet time. She was fired, and I immediately started looking for alternatives but there were long wait lists in the centers anywhere near my work.

So I quit. I spent 8 years out of the workforce. I was fortunate in that my old position opened up when I was ready to come back. But I lost 8 years of retirement contributions and 8 years of salary and professional growth.

I came back 11 years ago, and now make 3x what I was making when I came back to the workforce. My retirement income will be fine (married and frankly my retirement income was always going to pale in comparison to my spouse’s). I estimate that my retirement income took about a 20% hit overall.

[Ohiogal]

4. Yup.

I don’t know how young couples afford it. Maybe that’s why the birth rate is way down.
Back in the day, childcare was still quite expensive, and I had no one to help me out- no parents, family, neighbors, friends - I tried freelancing from home for a while after they were born, but that became nearly impossible, so I just gave up.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. Can you really blame people for not being eager to jump into parenthood

in a country that offers an increasingly limited amount of external supports? I don't go for all of these articles that are lamenting or trying to sound an alarm about the decreased birthrate. Assuming we're not wiped out by other means, I *think* we will survive.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. Republicans/Right-Wingers put women in a terrible bind in this country because of their policies

They're against promoting birth control......but
They're against abortion........but
They're against public assistance, including expanded help for childcare.....but
They think women should stay at home and raise their young children and shouldn't leave them in daycare

All this with the end result that young, unmarried women can't work to support themselves and their children and any women with young children who DO work are sinful/neglectful of their children.

And, of course, Republicans/Right-Wingers don't want to raise the minimum wage/provide a living wage to anybody.

It's all weaves together to basically trap people whom aren't inherently wealthy/well-off.

[CousinIT]

8. IMO denial of equal pay & childcare in the US is meant to keep women OUT

of the workforce. Republicans like 'em home barefoot, pregnant, cooking & scrubbing toilets.

Keeping women at economic disadvantage as they do is a feature, not a bug, IOW.

[lunatica]

9. All of which applies to institutional racism

Being historically kept deliberately oppressed is a fact for everyone except white men, who are the oppressors.

Yet they whine and moan about how victimized they are. Especially under Trump who grabs private parts at will and cages brown children and prefers non white men to just die during natural disasters, or in police encounters.

[CousinIT]

10. +1000 n/t

[Renew Deal]

11. Your points are valid and there is something else to consider...

Some people prefer to raise their own kids. That is a non-financial factor in this.

[smirkymonkey]

12. Some women just choose not to have kids at all.

Either because they aren't interested in motherhood or they don't find it to be financially feasible. Even if you are married, there is no guarantee that your husband is going to stick around and taking time off to stay home and raise children puts women at an extreme disadvantage economically.

Even some couples decide that having children just isn't in the budget for them. It's hard enough for many people just to make ends meet without the extra financial burden of children. Student loan debt, mortgages, insecure finances, etc. just make too many people feel like they can't bear the extra risk of bringing children into the mix.