Fascinating read in last week’s New York Times about how economists and the government have realized that the women who have recently “opted out” of the workforce weren’t necessarily doing it wholeheartedly — the poor economy was a big factor. In other words, they were forced out of the workforce. Some stay-at-home moms are staying home because they can’t get decent jobs outside the home. Companies are laying off workers, pay is stagnant or even falling, things aren’t looking good. And according to the article, women from all walks of life are affected, about just as much as men. There’s enough pain to go around.
Despite all the doom and gloom of the economy and how some women are “having to stay home” with their kids, it’s nothing compared to what many single moms must go through. Many of them have no choice — they have to toil away, underpaid and overworked, without the ability to opt out. They have to survive.
This reminds me of a passage in “Mommy Wars,” a book I read a couple of months ago and talked about in a blog post.
Of course, most black women did it all because they had to. Black men, if they were hired, did not earn the kind of money that white men did, and black women were compelled to enter the workforce to help support their families.
Bottom line: Some women can’t afford to fret about working vs. opting out. They have mouths to feed and rent to pay. When realities are that harsh, there’s no room for analysis.
