Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Do Women Work too Little - or Men too Much?

Thanks to new OECD gender statistics and world women's day (missed it?), there have been many page-1 news articles about women and work. First was the confirmation that educated women earn 15-25% less than men (boo!). Today's headline "Women still work too little". (In paid jobs, full-time, that is - including unpaid work they work far above what men do in total per day - men have much more recreation and leisure time (boo!)). My hypothesis is that women work too little because MEN work too much. AND women are bad at outsourcing household tasks, and often unwilling to outsource (big chunks of) childcare. From my own experience, my husband working and traveling more has meant that I work less, and if I have had to or wanted to work more, we have outsourced household and childcare to compensate. He has been able to work less only in between jobs, not IN jobs. There's never really been the option - in our current work situation - for my husband to work less. This is, in my view, what really inhibits moms from getting decent jobs and advancing their careers. But can women battle thus battle for men? And would a man "help" and take part in this battle for more balanced work roles?

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