Sunday, March 19, 2006

New Moms Exhausted

From the Business of Life, bouncing off a new study -- New Moms Exhausted:
"Or to learn that 76 percent of working mothers return to work within a year after the birth of their child. Forty-one percent of working mothers are back within three months, and nearly one in six is back within the first month after delivery."
It boggles the mind to imagine the societal (and lifestyle/family) implications of half of the kids in an entire generation being raised by institutions from the time they're three months old. She also had an interesting recent post about contempt for parenthood:
"The painful paradox is that while women have liberated themselves from being defined by their biology - the fate of the girl in many African and Asian societies who is not truly a woman until she has given birth - mothers have ended up relegated to the status of constant abject failure in a culture driven by consumerism and workaholism."

1 comment:

Rob said...

Hi J
I am nervous about my comment but here goes. Not only are many women ashamed of being a parent but being a wife is worse.

I say this as I watch my own 28 year old duaghter struggle to find her way in the workforce where her passion is food and kids. She trying to find a way to get good food and good eating habits into daycares and kindergartens in TO. But if i really step back - I see that what she would be best at would be in raising her own family and being a great partner for a lucky man.

But this is now seen as being a total failure.

I find this more than sad. Is it not a sign of collapse that they core work for a species, the successful rasing of the next generation - a process that is anll mammals depends on the quality of the mother - is derided?