I'm especially interested in where you're going on the topic of economic vs. human arguments for a fully supported care infrastructure. I appreciate economic arguments about GDP growth and female labor force participation, etc. But I also kind of bristle at them because a) I don't think we should have to justify care as instrumental to the economy b) I'm not sure the argument is strong enough to prevail c) I"m not totally confident it's true.
Yes, I'm definitely still figuring out where I'm going on the topic too. I believe there is importance the economic arguments given the capitalist system we live in, and also agree that they aren't the full solution, for your reasons A and B, as well as others like the fact that economic solutions to care don't fully acknowledge the role of gender norms, empathy and love. Economic arguments may have a role to play in moving the human ones, though. I'm curious what you mean by your reason C.
By c: I mean that I'm not confident that care-oriented policies will actually deliver the economic impacts advertised, including female labor force participation. For example, some countries with relatively good policies still have relatively low FLFP. Obviously, it's complicated and with multiple factors. I just don't want to depend too much or exclusively on economic arguments for care.
It is so nice getting to know a whole other side of you through your writing. Even though I saw you in the weeks/months after your kids were born, I didn’t know everything else that was going on.
Iris and I laughed so hard during Barbie. We were definitely laughing the hardest in the theater … either we were in a good mood because we were on vacation, or no one else thought it was funny (we were at a theater right next to a military base). I laughed pretty hard at the scene where they distract the Kens by asking them to explain the meaning of their favorite movies … which is hilarious … but also makes me feel sheepish “explaining” what I liked so much about the movie.
One of the things I loved about Amanda Ripley’s “Smartest Kids in the World” is how it compares US education policy with that of other countries (Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, South Korea) to show that it doesn’t have to be this way. Teachers can feel valued. Students and parents can feel supported. Not everyone has to go to a 4-year college for a well paid job. Do you know if something similar has been written about care? My German friends think that it’s barbaric that the US doesn’t have paid leave and that of course women should be guaranteed their job after taking a year of parental. (And increasingly, that men should take at least 6 months if not more to care for both mother and child.) I know that Helen Russel has written about some of this in My Year of Living Danishly, but I’d be interested (and I imagine others would too) in reading comparative vignettes of mothers and fathers whose governments actually do support them … especially now that so many European and East Asian countries are passing new legislation to desperately raise fertility rates.
Good question re: a book comparison to Ripley's (which I haven't read). The book The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life" touches on this via one woman's experience.
And yeah it's taken time and distance to even feel like I could talk publicly about PPD, but now I feel like it's important for women to see it acknowledged and talked about to lessen the shame/loneliness of it.
I'm especially interested in where you're going on the topic of economic vs. human arguments for a fully supported care infrastructure. I appreciate economic arguments about GDP growth and female labor force participation, etc. But I also kind of bristle at them because a) I don't think we should have to justify care as instrumental to the economy b) I'm not sure the argument is strong enough to prevail c) I"m not totally confident it's true.
Yes, I'm definitely still figuring out where I'm going on the topic too. I believe there is importance the economic arguments given the capitalist system we live in, and also agree that they aren't the full solution, for your reasons A and B, as well as others like the fact that economic solutions to care don't fully acknowledge the role of gender norms, empathy and love. Economic arguments may have a role to play in moving the human ones, though. I'm curious what you mean by your reason C.
By c: I mean that I'm not confident that care-oriented policies will actually deliver the economic impacts advertised, including female labor force participation. For example, some countries with relatively good policies still have relatively low FLFP. Obviously, it's complicated and with multiple factors. I just don't want to depend too much or exclusively on economic arguments for care.
It is so nice getting to know a whole other side of you through your writing. Even though I saw you in the weeks/months after your kids were born, I didn’t know everything else that was going on.
Iris and I laughed so hard during Barbie. We were definitely laughing the hardest in the theater … either we were in a good mood because we were on vacation, or no one else thought it was funny (we were at a theater right next to a military base). I laughed pretty hard at the scene where they distract the Kens by asking them to explain the meaning of their favorite movies … which is hilarious … but also makes me feel sheepish “explaining” what I liked so much about the movie.
One of the things I loved about Amanda Ripley’s “Smartest Kids in the World” is how it compares US education policy with that of other countries (Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, South Korea) to show that it doesn’t have to be this way. Teachers can feel valued. Students and parents can feel supported. Not everyone has to go to a 4-year college for a well paid job. Do you know if something similar has been written about care? My German friends think that it’s barbaric that the US doesn’t have paid leave and that of course women should be guaranteed their job after taking a year of parental. (And increasingly, that men should take at least 6 months if not more to care for both mother and child.) I know that Helen Russel has written about some of this in My Year of Living Danishly, but I’d be interested (and I imagine others would too) in reading comparative vignettes of mothers and fathers whose governments actually do support them … especially now that so many European and East Asian countries are passing new legislation to desperately raise fertility rates.
Good question re: a book comparison to Ripley's (which I haven't read). The book The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life" touches on this via one woman's experience.
And yeah it's taken time and distance to even feel like I could talk publicly about PPD, but now I feel like it's important for women to see it acknowledged and talked about to lessen the shame/loneliness of it.
On point Anna!! 🙌🏼
Anna-- You are a brilliant writer. So spot on. This post has me fired up AF and wanting more.