Re:'It's quite soul-destroying': how we fell out of love wit...
by trealira on Sunday October 29, 2023 @04:00PM
(#38062125)
I think part of it is the old feminist theory of the "second shift" [1]; they have careers now, but they're working twice as much as they used to, doing the bulk of the housework and childrearing, and keeping a full time job. Men these days share more housework than their fathers, which mitigates the problem.
However, with the rise of living costs, now both partners need a full-time job, and the domestic labor is still there; more work needs to be done than before, despite technology making the individual worker more productive. It's not a surprise that fewer people are able to have children; they have more work and are still just barely paying the bills.
In the 70s, there was a movement called the "International Wages for Housework Campaign," which argued that women should be paid a salary for domestic labor, which is essential to society, and that this is an essential component of Women's Liberation [2]. It's interestingly contrary to the view that feminists are all liberal individualists who don't believe in men and women being different.
However, with the rise of living costs, now both partners need a full-time job, and the domestic labor is still there; more work needs to be done than before, despite technology making the individual worker more productive. It's not a surprise that fewer people are able to have children; they have more work and are still just barely paying the bills.
In the 70s, there was a movement called the "International Wages for Housework Campaign," which argued that women should be paid a salary for domestic labor, which is essential to society, and that this is an essential component of Women's Liberation [2]. It's interestingly contrary to the view that feminists are all liberal individualists who don't believe in men and women being different.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_burden
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wages_for_housework