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Comment by pwlb | Hacker News Reader

This is also a question of tradition and choices. Speaking for eastern Germany, it was very common for women to work and this is also a choice of living, maybe encouraged by independency/emancipation

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It's much less common in Western Germany, and the difference largely persists to this day. The Economist recently had a good article on that, non-paywall link: https://outline.com/DZyckV

Women worked in all countries in the Soviet block, as the communist ideology was generally anti-family, so anything that weakened family ties was seen as positive. Also, of course by having two people per family working for the state (and there were hardly any private jobs, state was the main employer), the state can squeeze more value out of them.

That does not make current female employment unrelated to independency/emancipation, just like wester female employment is related to that too.

That just means that contemporary woman is not seen as shirking her mom responsibilities when working. While the children are definitely seen as mothers primary responsibility, working is part of that. It also means that there is less expectation on women to be artificially nice or helpless and dependent compared to American stereotypes.

Unlike in America, woman working is not interpreted as woman being anti-family. Unlike in Germany, mom working is not interpreted as mom failing her kids.

Also, it is not like the first women stepped into Russian factory only after revolution. The women did worked prior that, obviously. Whether on rural farms in villages or in factories or as cleaners or selling stuff at marker etc. The aristocracy expected women to not work, but generally Russians have been poor and had to do stuff to survive.

Anecdotally from the generation of people that lived in Eastern Germany, especially in rural areas, a sense of community, solidarity and purpose is what went missing after the Berlin wall came down.

I have never thought of having more women in the workforce as "anti-family", and will definitely research on that, but personally I am happy to have a more diverse workforce and not stigmatize men if they want to stay at home.

> I am happy to have a more diverse workforce and not stigmatize men if they want to stay at home.

I dont think Eastern Europe is the place more accepting of men staying with children at home.

> I have never thought of having more women in the workforce as "anti-family"

In lieu of their mothers, children need to be looked after by professional caretakers. This weakens their bond with the mother. And even in the evenings, when mother is back from the job, she's beat and can't give the same level of attention to their children.

As a teacher, I had the great benefit of staying home with my toddler over the summer, and I can decidedly tell you that my wife was far more chipper and ready to provide positive attention to our son in the evenings than I was.

There are two parents! Is it still 1960?

Both parents are working, so the children are cared for by the state in Ganztagesschulen (Germany, literally Whole-Day-Schools). It's a mix of "we must raise the children because some parents are unwilling/unable to do it themselves" and necessity for average parents who cannot afford for one of them not to work full time.

Similar in here in Sweden, but my point is to highlight the focus on the mother as the primary and default child carer.

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