A Room of One’s Own: Why Women with Families Are Still Losing Out
When Virginia Woolf wrote “A Room of One’s Own,” she delved into the difficult issues of women’s inequality and intellectual suppression. She also touched on the subject of money, pointing out that without it, women are dependent on men and their intellectual potential cannot flourish. That was in 1929, but it’s still relevant. Women are still losing out, particularly women with families.
Depending on what source you consult, women make anywhere from 16% to 30% less than men in the workforce. In addition, women’s retirement pay is approximately 1/3 the retirement pay for men, and women are more likely to live in poverty than men.
Why is this? Why are women with families still losing out?
There’s no one answer to this, but there are multiple factors that come into play.
Childcare
This is one of the hot buttons when it comes to women in the workforce and their families. The early part of the 21st century saw a small female demographic leave the workforce in favor of the home life, but low-income women who could not afford childcare also left, largely unnoticed. And the low-income women who left were in far greater numbers than the wives of well-off husbands who left and garnered publicity for it.
In fact, this small demographic earned a moniker – The Opt-Out Generation – for opting out of the workforce and choosing to stay home with their children. They chose to leave the working world because they did not have to be there income-wise.
Income notwithstanding, the uncomfortable fact is that some women are just not comfortable with others raising their children, workforce or not. So women with children seem to be in a lose-lose situation: either someone else gets paid to raise your kids, or you lose your job, income, and possibly your sense of self-worth to stay home with them.
Returning to Work
Many women return to the workforce when their kids are older. But the overwhelming majority of these women earn much less than they did before leaving, even if they made excellent money before. Sometimes, this is by choice; women might prefer the lower-key, part-time, flexible work that allows them to keep a “foot” at home. Other times, it’s just the way things seem to pan out when women return to the workforce – they just can’t pick up where they left off.
Housework
Here’s another bone of contention among working women. They lose out because they have the “second shift” when they get home. While the husband often relaxes on the couch after his day at work, the woman cooks dinner and tries to catch up on the housecleaning and the laundry.
Sometimes, the dream to “have it all” ends in disillusionment.