A reader makes a nuanced argument:
There are some real problems with Miller’s position. Men increase their hours, while women reduce theirs. As a rather natural consequence, men get bonuses and raises. This happens when one works longer hours and work harder. Women want to work less. As a rather natural consequence, women have trained employers to be suspicious of women after they have children. Even if a particular women works longer and harder, she is tainted by the general reaction. I don’t think this is the fault of employers. Employers have the rather sad duty of living in the real world where economic decisions actually matter and have consequences. Thus, they are typically a conservative (in the traditional sense) bunch who go with what mostly happens: a women will work less and want more time off.
What we really need to do is to stop being a society that demands that the adults in a two-parent family both work. We need to re-organize back to the idea of one parent works to support the family and one stays home. We should be egalitarian about which one stays home and encourage fathers to stay home as much as mothers.
But we need to give employers both the message that the working parent can be fully counted upon to work and the stay-at-home parent can take on the real responsibility of raising children (which is wildly hard work, so much so that I would never, ever do it; even the sight of a day care center is enough to make me queasy).
The easiest way to do this is to credit the stay-at-home parent with Social Security credits equal to the working parent. The bonus for society would be fewer workers, higher wages for the remaining workers, and neighborhoods with adults home to keep track of the children. The time from after school to parents return is the most dangerous time for children and, with a parent home, that would end. Not only do studies clearly show children do better in two parent families (the sex of the two parents really doesn’t matter), but that children do even better in two-parent families where one stays home and takes on the daily task of raising the children (please see: Family Structure and Children’s Health in the United States: Findings From the National Health Interview Survey, 2001 – 2007, published by the CDC).
For far, far too long, we’ve allowed our society to be organized to optimize what is best for corporate profits. We need to organize around what is best for our citizens, particularly families. I write this as a single gay man without children, but someone who fully recognizes a society that puts children and families first will be a healthier one.
The Dish 