A pressing issue today is that women perform the majority of unpaid care-related labor, and in doing so, end up working more than men but earning less over their lifetime. As a result, female senior citizens in the US are twice as likely to live in poverty as their male counterparts (Fidel). This problem can be tackled by increasing male participation in unpaid care-related labor, so that these tasks can be distributed more evenly among the genders. This way, women in the US will bear less of the economic burden associated with this type of labor. One way to get men to participate more in care-related labor is to encourage men to take paternity leave. Mothers take much longer parental leaves than fathers, some even having to permanently or temporarily exit the workforce or shift from full- to part-time. Women suffer because of this with a four percent decrease in earnings per child (Traister). If men began sharing the responsibility of parental leave with women, mothers would take less time off. For many women who receive none or very little paid leave, this would mean a shorter unpaid absence from work, and a smaller loss in earnings. Additionally, if men and women contributed more equally to parental leave, fewer employers would discriminate against hiring women of childbearing age. Although eighty-nine percent of fathers took time off after having a baby, nearly sixty-seven percent took less than a week off (Miller). Many new parents feel that it is much more appropriate for a mother to take a longer period of time off after having a baby, even at the expense of her career, than for a father to do so.
One way to encourage fathers to share parental leave more equally with mothers is by running a PSA-style ad campaign on the subway. The subway already runs similar ads, sponsored by the city, that encourage fathers to take a more active role in child-rearing (“10 Ways to be a Great Dad”). With the city’s cooperation, the paternity leave ads can become an extension of the existing ads. The message of the ads should focus on encouraging fathers to split parental leave more equally with the mothers of their children. Because paternity leave suffers from being perceived as unmasculine, the ads should use language that emphasizes that fathers who look after their children by taking paternity leave are strong.
Another gender-related economic problem is that women are underrepresented in leadership positions in the workforce. To combat this, my group and I will propose an initiative to create a mentorship organization between successful female faculty and alumni from City College and current female students from the College and on-campus high schools. This will not only provide young women who are about to start their careers with knowledge about how to become successful, but will also create a network that will help these women advance in their careers. This last point is especially important because as we discussed in class, although women tend to have larger social networks than men, men’s networks are of higher quality, which helps them to advance in their careers. We hope that building relationships with successful women who can provide them with valuable references when seeking jobs, recommend them for job openings, etc., will help young women achieve the same quality of networks that men have and hopefully advance their careers.
Works Cited
“10 Ways to Be a Great Dad.” NYC.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Fidel, Emma. “Women Live Retirement in Poverty at Higher Rates Than Men.” Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 25 July 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Miller, Claire Cain. “Paternity Leave: The Rewards and the Remaining Stigma.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Traister, Rebecca. “Why Women Can’t Break Free from the Parent Trap.” New Republic. N.p., 03 Feb. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Encouraging men to take paternity leave is an interesting and innovative solution. However, I wonder how effective it will be. I do not think advertisements are a very strong incentive. Women do not receive paid maternity leave so neither would men receive paid paternity leave. We also need to encourage women to return to the workforce after having children. 43% of women leave the work force after having children. If so many women are staying at home to raise children, some people might argue it is not necessary for men to receive paternity leave. Also I do not think men taking paternity leave will help the poverty levels of female senior citizens. Instead it may cause men to be subjected to the same fate to women and cause male senior citizens to have higher levels of poverty as well.
However I do think both men and women should be able to take time off from work in order to raise children without there being serious repercussions to their career.
http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/04/why-43-of-women-with-children-leave-their-jobs-and-how-to-get-them-back/275134/