This is cross posted at Blogher
As American Women begin to realize that the "Mommy Wars" is nothing more than a case of WAG THE DOG, it seems as if things are heating up in Germany.
The The NYT Week In Review has an article about Ursula von der Leyen, a physician and mother of seven, who happens to be Germany's new minister for family affairs.
"The question is not whether women will work," she said in an interview. "They will work. The question is whether they will have kids."
Germany, she says, must make it easier for women to do both, because it now has one of the lowest birthrates in the world. The number of children born here in 2005 was the lowest in a single year since 1945. If the trend holds, the population will decline 17 percent by 2050 — hobbling the economy and an already-strained social system."
While Germany has a very generous parental leave system, they make it almost impossible for a mom to return to work. Their kindergartens and child care centers close at noon--most public schools close at 1:00 p.m. In the NYT article, Dr. von der Leyen says she wants to completely rewrite German family policies.
"Dr. von der Leyen says she now wants to combine the flexible child care of France with the financial incentives of Sweden. Her main proposal, adapted from Sweden, is to shorten parental leave support in Germany to 12 months, but tie payments — up to $2,2,00 a month — to income. Higher-income families would have more incentive to have babies, while the shorter duration would prod mothers to return to work sooner.
She would also require fathers to take at least two months off work, if a family is to receive the full 12 months of benefits, to pressure men to take more responsibility."
Meanwhile back on American front, The New Republic has a terrific editorial about the Wag The Dog Nature of "The Mommy Wars" and the fact that while politicians may be loathe to enact more family friendly laws, the bottom line is businesses are becoming more family friendly because its good for the bottom line.
"Business has been understandably unenthusiastic about the calls for increased benefits, flex-time, and other working-mom "perks." In a corporate culture that values face time and late nights at the office, suggestions of flexibility are reflexively dismissed as a drain on productivity. But, slowly, this culture has been changing--often as companies realize the brain drain of moms-in-flight. Ernst & Young, noticing a high turnover rate among its female employees, piloted a project in the mid-'90s that allowed all workers to telecommute; the firm's percentage of women partners has since tripled. Other corporations, including Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, have created new reduced-hour jobs designed for working mothers. With women now constituting 46 percent of the U.S. workforce and receiving more college degrees than men, there are clear economic incentives for businesses to develop similar third-way options."
If you agree with the editorial you'll leave on the side that there never was a "War Between The Mommys" in the first place.
That's a relief since there's a scheduled Cease Fire on the Mommy Wars slated for May 15th.
Oh, I do have one itty bitty...no make that major issue with the post at Workplace Prof Blog that sent me subscribing to the New Republic.In tee-ing up the editorial from the New Republic, the male blogger wrote:
"According to conventional wisdom, there is an on-going ideological divide between stay-at-home moms and women who choose to put their careers above their families. A continuing cultural war of epic proportions seethes just under the fabric of American society."
Excuse me? Women who work are putting their careers above their families? As my daughter Berit would say, " Are ya jokin'me?"
While we are focusing on this cease fire, can we please concentrate on eliminating editorially imbued statements about either choice?
If you are going to describe one group as stay at home...then describe the others in the same kind of vanilla lanuage--they are moms who work. Period.
Not moms who put their careers above their families. Not moms who pay more attention to budgets and deadlines then their children's soccer game scores. They are just moms who work. Get it?
It's time to stop the editorializing. The facts are the facts. Women who work are moms. To say that moms who work put their careers ahead of their families is about as ridiculous as saying that every stay at home mom follows the advice of Dr. Laura.
Hat Tips to 
Bumblebee Sweet Potato for recommending the NYT article and to Workplace Prof Blog for leading me to the New Republic Editorial which they hat tipped to Dana Nguyen.
NOTE:
While The New Republic is a subscription -based magazine,it does allow me to email the article and so if you would like to read the entire editorial just send me an email and I'll forward it on.
Title quote: Hillary Clinton during an interview on 60 minutes during the 1992 presidential campaign.
Image Credit:Dr.von der Leyen with her seven children. Appeared in NY TIMES Week in Review. Jochen Luebke/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images
Tags: Business, Mommy Wars, Women, Germany
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