On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Oct 24, 2006, at 5:40 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> Appealing work time policy has been MIA almost everywhere. The truth
> be told, lots of women -- especially women with young children --
> prefer part-time to full-time work, as BBC suggested, not just in Iran
> but most countries including rich ones, the preference being shaped by
> an unequal division of care-giving labor.
Speaking from immediate personal experience, yes women with young
children, specifically my wife, would like to work less - but we're
just planning to have one child. Ahmadinejad wants to reduce hours so
they can have more kids. That's a big difference. Pro-natalist
policies like this are typically found in reactionary, anti-feminist
regimes.
Almost all nations have pro-natalist work and welfare policies, the
most social democratic nations offering probably the most pro-natalist
policy, except that pro-natalist policy seldom ever leads to more
children, for women just take the benefits -- be they cash, social
programs, parental leaves, flex hours, etc. -- without producing more
children. That's the paradox of pro-natalist policy: pro-natalist
policy tends to lead to fewer children, as comparison between the USA,
which offers few pro-natalist supports and incentives, and European
countries where pro-natalist supports and incentives abound and
parents have easier time combining wage labor and parenting,
demonstrates.
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
