From: Natasha Vita-More (natasha@natasha.cc)
Date: Fri Jul 27 2001 - 09:15:15 MDT
At 07:11 AM 7/23/01 -0700, Olga wrote:
>... and so I thought J.R. Molloy's observation was prescient (he caught the
>contradiction)! The question seems to come down not so much as to whether
>childrearing is tough work (a point on which Natasha and Samantha weighed
>in), but whether it's work at all? Is it?
Yes.
>To which Natasha retorted:
>> > It makes sense to me that in a partnership where both parties want a
>> > family, that both parties work and pay equally. Producing and raising a
>> > child is said to be one of the toughest jobs there is.
Parties to the partnership work and pay equally according to the amount of
contribution she or he invests. I didn't say where they work. This, of
course, is not just doing a day job, or night job. The $ equally is
incorrect, it should be % of $ earned. This can be estimated for the
"house manager" at the rate of quality and expertise in her or his work.
I'd go for style, organization, cleanliness, uniqueness, ambiance and
surprise.
>And Samantha replied:
>> Do you think that housewives don't work? Ha! It is a bit
>> better today but in most two wage-earner families I know of the
>> woman comes home from the office and does most of the cooking,
>> cleaning and dealing with the children still on top of her
>> workday at the office.
I don't know who or what Samantha was replying to. It doesn't seem to
follow my line of thinking, or I wasn't clear.
>(Scenario 1), Natasha is talking about both parties working and paying
>equally, and childrearing is always tough (Scenario 2), and Samantha seems
>to be saying whether housewives work outside the home, inside the home, or
>both, it's all work, and childrearing is always tough (Scenario 3).
I'm talking about parties contributing equally according to his investment
of time and energy into the partnership unit. This doesn't mean Jim goes
to work from 9 - 5, 5 days a week and Sam does the same time equally. It
means Jim cleans, cooks, gardens and also is a chief at a local restaurant
while Sam is a programmer and also invests much time planning their
vacations and ways to improve their lives. When they adopt a child, Jim
and Sam rework their schedules so that they provide the love and
nourishment to the child by and educate the child, each their his unique
skills and knowledge. The "equal" does not mean the $ amount of each
paycheck and number hours of work cut down the middle, but the level of
investment of time, energy, intelligence and creativity. Herein, I also
think that equally pertains to percentage of income. If Jim makes $70,000
and Sam makes $48,000, it would be an equal percentage, not an equal dollar
amount of their income to the partnership.
Natasha
"The best defense is a cultural offense!"
_Create/Recreate: The 3rd Millennial Culture_
http://www.natasha.cc
http://www.extropic-art.com
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"We are transhumans ..." Meme Orbits Saturn in 2004!
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