Buried in the business pages (Economist’s hopes for women
disappointed, March 8) is the understatement of the year. I refer
to economist Pru Hyman’s claim that “bringing up the next generation is also
important’’.
“Bringing up the next generation” is not merely ‘also
important’; stay-at-home mothers are the most important, most valuable members
of our society. It’s grossly ironic that, as Hyman points out, because they are
unpaid and their toil isn’t recognised by the Government in gross domestic
product (GDP) calculations, the Government calls them ‘dependants’.
It’s actually the Government which is ‘dependant’ on these women and the
unpaid work they do, not just in ‘household work’ but in forming healthy minds, hearts
and bodies in their children, equipping them to support the burden of our aging
population.
Children, born and unborn, are our most precious resource.When a society is so warped as to consider producing ‘gross domestic product’ more important than producing future citizens, surely we should pay them to fulfill their basic role, one which like practically any other job women do better than men, simply because they are designed to produce not ‘product’ but people.
Children, born and unborn, are our most precious resource.When a society is so warped as to consider producing ‘gross domestic product’ more important than producing future citizens, surely we should pay them to fulfill their basic role, one which like practically any other job women do better than men, simply because they are designed to produce not ‘product’ but people.
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