Career women


What is wrong with this quote?

If women are to participate fully in corporate life, Australia must embrace the nanny culture."


This was said recently by Carolyn Hewson, an Australian company director.  She goes on to say ''We do not have a nanny culture in this country, and it severely hampers us.  So what is she really saying: women are being hampered by their children who are getting the way of their ambitious plans to rise up the corporate ladder.

Solution - outsource the care of your child to a full-time nanny.

It doesn't matter that you may never see your child, but at least you can hold a senior position in a company.  Someone else will care for your children, cook for them, be there when they get home from school, entertain them during the school holidays and comfort them when they are sick — but at least you will hold a senior position in corporate Australia. Karen Miles (author of The Real Baby Book You Need at 3am) says "Society tells us that to be a good mother, it should be all about the children - that if you go back to work or pursue personal interests or community interests, then you're a bad mother, which is absolute rubbish".  No Karen, it is ALL about the children, what is best for the children not mums ambitions of rising to the top.


As far as I am concerned, if women decide to have children they must be willing to make sacrifices and one of these sacrifices may mean not being able to work their way up the corporate ladder as quickly as they would have liked.  If the only way a woman can get "to the top" is via the use of a nanny, perhaps she should never have had children in the first place. One of the biggest problems in the corporate world is the number of hours required to dedicate to work  — these women will spend so little time with their children, why have them.   Yes, some would argue that it is "their right", but what about the rights of the child to have a mother who can drop everything and care for a sick child.  I am sure a corporate mum would be reluctant to say in a board meeting that she had to dash home to look after her child.


When Sarah Palin was running for the Presidency, my first thought was for her children — who was looking after them.  Her focus should be on her family, first and foremost, not considering running a nation.  This is FAR more than a 24/7 job and would leave little or no time for her children.  Some would say that Todd Palin was looking after the children and yes that is good, but no one replaces a mother.


I don’t have an issue with ambitious women who want to rise up the corporate ladder or become a leader of a nation, but if this is where they want to head DON’T HAVE CHILDREN, you cannot dedicate your time to your country or company and to your children (and husband) - something it bound to suffer. 


Mrs Hewson also comments on the role of men in corporate positions “But the real key to this would be male role models working flexible hours, taking their share of leaving early to pick up the children two days a week. A male role model at the chief executive or chairman level is incredibly powerful.''  Of course she wasn't say this as a "good thing for dad", but because it would be a "good thing for mum" in her selfish rise to the top.  In fact all of this is about what mum wants and nothing about her  husband and her children. 


When I was reading this news article, a person left a comment which sums it all up "I have a wonderful nanny .... I pay her $26 an hour - around $75,000 a year for 5 days work! But I do not want to leave the workforce as it is too hard to get back if I took 3-5 years off". Her child has been reduced to just another commodity in the household, similar to outsourcing the housecleaning or ironing - all those mundane tasks that some women no longer want or wish to do. 

What are your thoughts?


~oOo~ 

Comments

  1. I think you probably know what I think on this one, Jo... I think it's disgusting how children are so often the LAST priority. At the fall of man, God did pronounced two curses. One was a curse to make work hard for man... The other was to make child-bearing difficult for woman. Doesn't that tell us what God REALLY had in mind for women - His ideal is for them to be at home, raising children - "bringing forth and multiplying"...
    It is very sad that children aren't important anymore - oh parents are very quick to boast about their children's acheivements or the cute things they do ("isn't he so cute, he said [such and such] about his girlfriend the other day, and he's still only 7!" - don't get me started on that... that's a whole other soap box I regularly stand on!!!!)... But despite this pride in their children (if they know much about their children at all), they wouldn't have a clue how to make sacrifices for them or how to even raise them in a way that will TRULY benefit the child later in life!
    At one of his jobs, Dan had a boss who had a 14 year old son, and apparently, this boss (female) told him that her son had gone for a holiday somewhere and she didn't know where or when or when he would be back or who he went with or anything!! Dan was suitably shocked (in private)... But that is what it is like with (at least) some of these career women whose main goal in life is to climb the ladder and be powerful. How very sad! :(

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  2. Makes me feel sad, Jo. I have loved every moment with my children, even though I still remember the tough times, both emotionally and financially. I appreciate that my mum was there for me, and my kids seem to appreciate that. I also love that my girls are determined to mother their own children. It is a tough job but a high calling.

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  3. Ditto......... agree from beginning to end!! I just pray my daughter-in-laws will feel the same and they won't become part of the nanny society, because this future grandmother would be heart broken....my sons have heard my feelings on this subject since they were born...but who knows what they will decide

    I have raised my own and continue to raise my own and it is the only thing I can truly say I have no regrets in having done with my life

    I also felt the same way about Sarah Palin

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  4. The world is just plain wrong, upsaide down and all out of kilter!
    love,
    Bets

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  5. Complete rubbish. This is what the socialists want--for mothers to ditch their children and leave them in the care of others so their minds can be warped and twisted to conform to beliefs outside of the family.

    It is so sad that children are being cast off by their mothers for money and recognition by some meaningless company. The business won't last, but those children's souls will go on and on forever.

    You might enjoy this post by Lady Lydia http://homeliving.blogspot.com/2011/08/no-need-for-nannies.html

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  6. Thanks Mrs Q, I will have a read of the link you provided. Nannies are the worse option as they are in your home doing all the things that a mother should be doing and to be honest they become the mother in everything but name. Why . . . all so the mother can become an executive in a high paid company. What will her children thank her for later in life - for the money she brought home and the love she gave.

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