The Zombie Lie of Women Opting Out of Workforce Takes Another Hit
July 28, 2008
Editor's note: Also see Heather Boushey's "Mommies Opting Out of Work: A Myth That Won't Die."
Judith Warner of the New York Times blogs a little bit more about the horrific double standard in the way we approach gender and work issues, and the JEC's new report:
Judith Warner of the New York Times blogs a little bit more about the horrific double standard in the way we approach gender and work issues, and the JEC's new report:
This week, Congress issued a report, [that] states categorically that mothers are not leaving the workforce to stay home with their kids. They're being forced out...
Men, of course, were hit hard by the recession and weak recovery, too; in fact, as Louis Uchitelle of the Times reported earlier this week, the workforce participation rates of men aged 25 through 54 have dropped from 96 percent in 1953 to 86.4 percent today.
But when men in their prime working years drop out of the workforce we don't say they've gone home to be with their kids.
We say they're unemployed.
