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Comment by anoncoward111 | Hacker News Reader

And boy all those private investors are thrilled to keep nearly all of the productivity gains from having double the labor pool available!

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Alternatively, perhaps this is the source of wage stagnation. We doubled the labor pool but did not necessarily double consumption.

That's because costs have gone up while wages have stayed the same; people need a double income now, while 30-40 years ago my parents could afford to own a house on a single income. Me, I was only able to buy one on a single income a year and a half or so ago, at an age where my dad had two kids with the third on its way with seven years less education and no degree. Mind you, different / cheaper area of the country, too.

>That's because costs have gone up while wages have stayed the same

I think you misunderstand. Wages may have stayed the same because there are twice as many people competing for jobs, compared to times when women were socially discouraged from working.

Labor gets cheaper, i.e. people are paid less, when there are more people competing for jobs. Supply and demand just like any other market.

And lots of women enjoy having a professional career.

No doubt about that one :) It goes without saying that their financial security is thoroughly important. Still, all workers in 2019 have diminished purchasing power compared to the amount of hours worked (and commuted)

Yes, but someone needs to raise the children.

We fathers can also take time off from work to stay at home with the kids and many of us do exactly that.

I think women are better at taking care of children, especially at the beginning (eg. breast feeding). Later, it's father's role to teach (raise) children.

My wife and I are equally capable of both taking care of and teaching our child. Breast feeding is a pretty small part of it, and it only lasts for a year or so.

Are you a parent?

Yes, I am parent of 2 kids: 7 and 4 years old. But my (single) case doesn't matter. From my observations women are naturally much more capable than men to deal with kids. One simple fact: they're more talkative. So the kid has better contact with language. Simple example: when kid gets hurt mum is usually trying to cheer up while father is trying to say something like "oh, it's nothing, go on and play". At the beginning, the attitude of woman is needed by kid, later - the one from father. Both are very different and very important.

Why? What’s better, slaving away in a cubicle from 9 to 5 doing meaningless work so some corporate big wig can meet his bottom line and get a bonus... or watching your children grow up, spending all day playing with them, raising them, hanging out with other parents while kids play...

I thought this should be obvious, but it seems women want to be like men and suffer through the generally horribly competitive, generally meaningless, and often monotonous drab of having a “career” in some goal of chasing an ever higher number on a direct deposit every two weeks. Why? Why not have the obviously much more fun, relaxed life of being a stay at home mother and be there as your child grows into an adult and builds their own unique personality?

Haven’t there been lots of studies showing women’s self reported happiness declining in recent decades? Specifically those who pursue these cutthroat executive positions dominated by pyschopathic, aggressive men working 80 hour weeks? Why would anyone be jealous of this lifestyle?

For some, staying at home is also meaningless and monotonous.

Women want to be treated equally and fairly. Up until recent history, women were treated as second class citizens under many laws. Even today, women overwhelmingly face discrimination and harassment in all walks of life, moreso than men.

Nobody wants to work 80 hour weeks. Women's rights is about not having your gender be a basis of disqualification for anything. If a woman wants to work the same miserable demanding job a man works, she should have every right to. Her gender should not be a disqualifier for a job.

Your argument for why wouldn't a mother want to stay at home and be with her kids could just as easily be applied to any father.

Who are you to say what women should prefer or not prefer?

I think this was a rhetorical question. Like, given the choice between raising your kids and staying at home, and going to a soul-sucking corporate cubicle job, WHY would ANYONE choose the later over the former, if both are a viable option for your family finances?

I'm guessing you haven't spent time at home looking after pre school kids. It is exhausting and relentless. Just going to the toilet alone for 5 mins seems like an unimaginable luxury. So an office environment, with opportunities for adult chit chat, and the relative prestige compared to child care, seems attractive to many of either gender who have experience of both.

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