"Childless Women Would Like Work-Life Balance Too Please" (article)
Posted by kidlesskim
http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/06/childless-women-would-like-work-life-balance-too.html
"One of the hazards of framing debates about work-life balance around working moms is that no one but working moms — whether vaunted as feminist superwomen or victimized for their lack of a breadwinner partner — feels entitled to it. It's creating what Marie Claire calls "the newest form of workplace discrimination": a second class of childless women carrying "an undue burden at the office, batting cleanup for their married-with-kids coworkers."
Chalk it up to our national singlism ( à la tax breaks for married couples), Ayana Byrd reports that 61 percent of childless women ages 33 to 47 believe parents get more flexibility at work. The women quoted, and their managers, seem to believe children are the only extra-professional pursuit moral enough to justify working a flexible 40-hour week. Parents lay claim to dinner time (children need structure), weekends (the soccer games), and Christmas (Santa’s for kids) — and adjust their schedules accordingly — while younger or childless women are assumed to be available at all times.
Giving those privileges to moms and not, say, those who signed up for a really expensive, non-refundable spin class, is illegal, and Marie Claire urges you to stand up for yourself, either to your manager (with the help of your more senior, childless female mentor, of course) or H.R. But even the brave Marie Claire sources willing to say, in print, they’d like to work slightly less, will only admit to wanting more free time for self-improvement projects such as going to the gym, spending time with their families, or taking a "religious studies class." It is still totally taboo, it seems, for workers to want to leave the office because they need to know what happens at the end of Gone Girl, or they'd like to have a drink outside while it’s still light out....."
Reader Comments:
1) Ohmygosh, this is absolutely ridiculous. It's not as if working moms and dads are going to get a spray tan. Really? You go to spin class while I raise a human? The writer is suggesting this is the equivalent of going to a workout class? I'm beyond baffled. The investment on children is an investment on society. The last time I worked out I was pregnant. Please. Sorry, but I'm taking care of multiple people and I don't anticipate my career to move up as fast as a non-parent. I expect and accept that, but I work whenever I can--not around my pilates schedule. Taking off work for your spin class doesn't seem like you're placing your career on a very high priority...and isn't that why you didn't have kids in the first place? This just sounds like a whiny post written by a 24-year old who misses college and isn't a hard worker. This cunt crammed as many bingoes as she could into one paragraph.
2)It is absolutely fair to give working moms much more flexibility at work, but I think dads should get this too. Mothering/parenting a child - either your own biological child, or an adopted one, is the only activity that gives back in the most important way to ALL of us. Your cycling and spa treatments do not support retired people, or add to advances in science, or create new businesses. Children are everyone's future, when they work their social security taken from their paychecks pays for you when you are old and haggard. Where would the world be if Bill Gates (HUGE philanthropist by the way), Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison were not driven to their math & computer club classes or where not otherwise made to feel confident due to the constant care of their mom&dad. The examples are endless. Taking care of ill family members ranks second, but it doesn't give back to society in the same way, and honestly as adults we should plan for our own care/pay for nurses to be less of a burden on others. Sorry, I'm not staying late at work so you can indulge in your vanity projects at your convenience. What to work out? Go to a 24 hr gym after work, even if it's midnight. The only schedule children are on, should be on, and can be on, is their own.
UNBELIEVABLE.
3)This is the kind of attitude that is leading to overpopulation. Thanks for buying into capitalism's myth of eternal growth. I should not be discriminated against because I chose not to bring more people into this world. Oh, and thanks for advocating the abandonment of the elderly. I wonder how you will feel when your children put you in a home and never visit.
wink
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If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!
"One of the hazards of framing debates about work-life balance around working moms is that no one but working moms — whether vaunted as feminist superwomen or victimized for their lack of a breadwinner partner — feels entitled to it. It's creating what Marie Claire calls "the newest form of workplace discrimination": a second class of childless women carrying "an undue burden at the office, batting cleanup for their married-with-kids coworkers."
Chalk it up to our national singlism ( à la tax breaks for married couples), Ayana Byrd reports that 61 percent of childless women ages 33 to 47 believe parents get more flexibility at work. The women quoted, and their managers, seem to believe children are the only extra-professional pursuit moral enough to justify working a flexible 40-hour week. Parents lay claim to dinner time (children need structure), weekends (the soccer games), and Christmas (Santa’s for kids) — and adjust their schedules accordingly — while younger or childless women are assumed to be available at all times.
Giving those privileges to moms and not, say, those who signed up for a really expensive, non-refundable spin class, is illegal, and Marie Claire urges you to stand up for yourself, either to your manager (with the help of your more senior, childless female mentor, of course) or H.R. But even the brave Marie Claire sources willing to say, in print, they’d like to work slightly less, will only admit to wanting more free time for self-improvement projects such as going to the gym, spending time with their families, or taking a "religious studies class." It is still totally taboo, it seems, for workers to want to leave the office because they need to know what happens at the end of Gone Girl, or they'd like to have a drink outside while it’s still light out....."
Reader Comments:
1) Ohmygosh, this is absolutely ridiculous. It's not as if working moms and dads are going to get a spray tan. Really? You go to spin class while I raise a human? The writer is suggesting this is the equivalent of going to a workout class? I'm beyond baffled. The investment on children is an investment on society. The last time I worked out I was pregnant. Please. Sorry, but I'm taking care of multiple people and I don't anticipate my career to move up as fast as a non-parent. I expect and accept that, but I work whenever I can--not around my pilates schedule. Taking off work for your spin class doesn't seem like you're placing your career on a very high priority...and isn't that why you didn't have kids in the first place? This just sounds like a whiny post written by a 24-year old who misses college and isn't a hard worker. This cunt crammed as many bingoes as she could into one paragraph.
2)It is absolutely fair to give working moms much more flexibility at work, but I think dads should get this too. Mothering/parenting a child - either your own biological child, or an adopted one, is the only activity that gives back in the most important way to ALL of us. Your cycling and spa treatments do not support retired people, or add to advances in science, or create new businesses. Children are everyone's future, when they work their social security taken from their paychecks pays for you when you are old and haggard. Where would the world be if Bill Gates (HUGE philanthropist by the way), Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison were not driven to their math & computer club classes or where not otherwise made to feel confident due to the constant care of their mom&dad. The examples are endless. Taking care of ill family members ranks second, but it doesn't give back to society in the same way, and honestly as adults we should plan for our own care/pay for nurses to be less of a burden on others. Sorry, I'm not staying late at work so you can indulge in your vanity projects at your convenience. What to work out? Go to a 24 hr gym after work, even if it's midnight. The only schedule children are on, should be on, and can be on, is their own.
UNBELIEVABLE.3)This is the kind of attitude that is leading to overpopulation. Thanks for buying into capitalism's myth of eternal growth. I should not be discriminated against because I chose not to bring more people into this world. Oh, and thanks for advocating the abandonment of the elderly. I wonder how you will feel when your children put you in a home and never visit.
wink------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!
I would love to know what these "tax breaks" are because my husband and I just continue to pay and pay and pay. Then when April 15th rolls around we get to pay some more.
sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken
indecision may or may not be my problem
indecision may or may not be my problem
I got a summer job as a cleaner again (which i'm very grateful for) but i do the work of 2 people because of the economical problems (company doesn't afford to hire 2 persons). Meanwhile i still have my part-time job and of course pay taxes from both of them. But some breeders fancy the idea of putting more tax on childless women (i provided here the link in a previous post).
After paying so much without taking any maternity leaves i think i should have the right to some time off especially when taking care of a sick family member. The breeder who said that other family members come on the second place is a selfish cunt...but wait...we were the selfish ones right? Because we do care more about the people who didn't come out of our vaginas.
eyes2
After paying so much without taking any maternity leaves i think i should have the right to some time off especially when taking care of a sick family member. The breeder who said that other family members come on the second place is a selfish cunt...but wait...we were the selfish ones right? Because we do care more about the people who didn't come out of our vaginas.
eyes2I thought breeding had intrinsic and transcendental benefits like sloppy kisses and hugs from grubby, short people. And they will also have their old, wrinkly asses wiped for free. Why hold so much rage and resentment at the unchilded, pray tell?eyes2
eyes2I'd like to add a few personal observations on the subject as well as some anecdotal evidence to support my opinions. I worked among many Moos from my earliest summer job at a dentist clinic at age 13 up until 1998 when I began owning and operating my own businesses, but even up until 2006 I still shared office space with an alleged "childfree" turned accidental breeder who dragged the loaf into work. So. I have worked with the cunts a total of aboutTHIRTY years, making me a Moo-Cunt expert of sorts! While there are many and most aren't positive, my overwhelming observation is when the cows use "flex time" for that famblee-life balance they low about, sick days because Shitford has the sniffles, demand certain vacation dates even though they conflict with busy seasons of the employer or interfere with vacation already scheduled by the unchilded, or they insist on certain holidays off, "for the chyyldren", RARELY, if ever, is that the case, rather they are using the kids as an excuse to do something THEY WANT to do or to make something more convenient for them.
While occasionally Snotford really is sick, he's rarely THAT sick and often times he isn't even under their care. More often than not they just want a day off and know they can get by with laying out by using the, "My chyyld is sick!" card. Over the years I have had Moos call out with a sick kid only to find out later the following:
My Chyld is Sick!:BS
1)They were in fact, at the beach, on a date, working at a second job, too hung over to come into work, and just about anywhere else imaginable other than at home caring for their sick kid.
2)The child really was sick, but their mother or mother in law took the child to the doctor AND took care of him at her house the entire duration of her absence. This happened on more than one occasion when I managed a restaurant and I'd find out about it when the Grand-Moo would call looking for the cunt to give her updates on Sickford or looking for her because she hadn't bothered to call in two days to see about her alleged sick child.
3)The child wasn't sick at all, but they just wanted a day off to sleep, study, or whatever. I'd find this out when the daycare would call to ask her why the kid wasn't in daycare and no one had called in about the kid, which they are supposed to do but don't because they rolled back over and over slept and the kid isn't even awake yet when they call out.
4)In jobs where I wasn't the boss they'd openly talk about the "My child is sick" lie and laugh about getting one over on the company.
The "flex time" Bullshit
m
That wasn't really a popular thing while I was still working for large companies, but I did see it at the end of my time working alongside a cow in a shared office. After she sluiced she started using that "work from home" lie and would RARELY work from home, which was evident by the fact her remote computer wasn't being used because I could see the main one at the office with a BLANK screen most all fucking day she was supposed to be "working from home". That, and her clients would call the office complaining she wouldn't answer her cell phone and ask ME to make corrections in reports, email documents, schedule appointments, etc.......like I was her fucking secretary. SO, she wasn't answering her phone OR working up reports, so she clearly was NOT "working from home", placing ME in the awkward position of having to pick up the slack for her. It was either that, or get some of our communal-shared clients pissed off at our company.
Vacations and Holidays
On numerous occasions over the years I have later learned some of these women didn't even HAVE their kids on the alleged holiday they requested off, but instead the kids were with their father on that particular holiday. No, they wanted that particular day off to spend it with their latest boyfriend and his famblee, which usually included potential step kids she was trying to win over for the future conception of a "one of our own" loaf. As far as famblee vacations, several times I'd find out they didn't even TAKE their kids with them, but left them with Mee-Maw and they and their husbands would fucking go on a cruise or something. Unbelievably, they'd come back all happy and tanned with a bunch of pictures that did NOT include the kids! One time I recall they specifically claimed they had to have THAT week off for "the chyldren", since they were out of school, and literally bumped an unchilded employee's vacation to another week.
FUCK Breeders
EVEN WHEN whatever they want their "famblee-life balance" time off for IS kid related, it is of no more importance than whatever the unchilded have the need for time off or "flex" time too. That asinine comment about fucking the elderly because they don't contribute to society or whatever is WOEFULLY selfish, mean, uncaring, and clearly illustrates just how self centered most breeders are! Who wants to bet when it's time for them to cash in on the bingo, "Who will take care of us in our old age", then they will expect their kids to get time off to take care of them! God, how I LOATHE Moos and Duddys with a purple passion and I am delighted "childless" people are coming forward, along with LEGAL counsel claiming discrimination, in hopes it will rain on their fucking high and mighty parade! It doesn't affect me personally any longer, but it's the damned principle of it. :sbx
------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!
While occasionally Snotford really is sick, he's rarely THAT sick and often times he isn't even under their care. More often than not they just want a day off and know they can get by with laying out by using the, "My chyyld is sick!" card. Over the years I have had Moos call out with a sick kid only to find out later the following:
My Chyld is Sick!:BS
1)They were in fact, at the beach, on a date, working at a second job, too hung over to come into work, and just about anywhere else imaginable other than at home caring for their sick kid.
2)The child really was sick, but their mother or mother in law took the child to the doctor AND took care of him at her house the entire duration of her absence. This happened on more than one occasion when I managed a restaurant and I'd find out about it when the Grand-Moo would call looking for the cunt to give her updates on Sickford or looking for her because she hadn't bothered to call in two days to see about her alleged sick child.
3)The child wasn't sick at all, but they just wanted a day off to sleep, study, or whatever. I'd find this out when the daycare would call to ask her why the kid wasn't in daycare and no one had called in about the kid, which they are supposed to do but don't because they rolled back over and over slept and the kid isn't even awake yet when they call out.
4)In jobs where I wasn't the boss they'd openly talk about the "My child is sick" lie and laugh about getting one over on the company.
The "flex time" Bullshit
mThat wasn't really a popular thing while I was still working for large companies, but I did see it at the end of my time working alongside a cow in a shared office. After she sluiced she started using that "work from home" lie and would RARELY work from home, which was evident by the fact her remote computer wasn't being used because I could see the main one at the office with a BLANK screen most all fucking day she was supposed to be "working from home". That, and her clients would call the office complaining she wouldn't answer her cell phone and ask ME to make corrections in reports, email documents, schedule appointments, etc.......like I was her fucking secretary. SO, she wasn't answering her phone OR working up reports, so she clearly was NOT "working from home", placing ME in the awkward position of having to pick up the slack for her. It was either that, or get some of our communal-shared clients pissed off at our company.
Vacations and Holidays
On numerous occasions over the years I have later learned some of these women didn't even HAVE their kids on the alleged holiday they requested off, but instead the kids were with their father on that particular holiday. No, they wanted that particular day off to spend it with their latest boyfriend and his famblee, which usually included potential step kids she was trying to win over for the future conception of a "one of our own" loaf. As far as famblee vacations, several times I'd find out they didn't even TAKE their kids with them, but left them with Mee-Maw and they and their husbands would fucking go on a cruise or something. Unbelievably, they'd come back all happy and tanned with a bunch of pictures that did NOT include the kids! One time I recall they specifically claimed they had to have THAT week off for "the chyldren", since they were out of school, and literally bumped an unchilded employee's vacation to another week.
FUCK Breeders
EVEN WHEN whatever they want their "famblee-life balance" time off for IS kid related, it is of no more importance than whatever the unchilded have the need for time off or "flex" time too. That asinine comment about fucking the elderly because they don't contribute to society or whatever is WOEFULLY selfish, mean, uncaring, and clearly illustrates just how self centered most breeders are! Who wants to bet when it's time for them to cash in on the bingo, "Who will take care of us in our old age", then they will expect their kids to get time off to take care of them! God, how I LOATHE Moos and Duddys with a purple passion and I am delighted "childless" people are coming forward, along with LEGAL counsel claiming discrimination, in hopes it will rain on their fucking high and mighty parade! It doesn't affect me personally any longer, but it's the damned principle of it. :sbx
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If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!
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lisbeth
I would love to know what these "tax breaks" are because my husband and I just continue to pay and pay and pay. Then when April 15th rolls around we get to pay some more.
Tax breaks? WTF? Parents get way more tax breaks than anybody else. They get baby bonuses, they get to claim expenses for their spawn's activities and sports and get some of that money back. They get to claim their daycare expenses and get some of that back. They get money back just for having kids. What do we get? We get to pay for their schools, their playgrounds, and their tax breaks.
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rudegubmintworker
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Really? You go to spin class while I raise a human?
Yah, Moo, while you throw your kids "food" in the microwave to cook (or you drive through McDonalds), pluck the kid in front of the television on his off nights from piano and soccer, where he's going to be ordinary just like 99% of all other kids. It's the teacher's job to deal with him 10 months a year, during summer you get to do the Important Job of whining about how your kids are getting on your nerves.
It seems like the ones who do the least work taking care of their kids are the ones who complain the loudest about how hard it is.
eyes2And since when is wanting to be healthy not a valid reason for wanting flexible hours at work? Some of us have serious diseases that run in our families that can be prevented by staying healthy. And even if you don't, wanting to be healthy isn't selfish. That's a real contribution to society. Adults have already contributed and continue to contribute to society. Children are nothing but a drain on society until they're old enough to get a job and start giving something back. Most of today's kids are so spoiled, lazy and stupid, flipping burgers will likely confuse them too much to be able to do it. Our future, my ass.
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