Did The Women's Movement Hurt Women?

I just watched a positively fascinating video over at Like Merchant Ships. It's a video of a lecture done by Elizabeth Warren, author of The Two Income Trap. It's a long video...about an hour, but I really enjoyed it. It's filled with lots of **data**. Oooo baby. Those of you who know me, know how I love data. Give me some numbers...show me a graph...I love it! It's the engineer in me, what can I say?

She speaks on a topic that impacts my life every single day. She talks about how women entering the work force has changed the finances of families today.

On the surface, the women's movement was a very healthy thing. I'm all for women's equal rights, and their ability to choose to do whatever they want to do with their lives. I'm fully aware and appreciative of the efforts made by my "foremothers" to ensure my right to go to whichever college I wanted to, to choose a field of study that was typically only for the guys, and to be able to get a job in said field making really great money.

And I can also choose to stay home from the office to raise my children full time. Of course, it's financially painful...but for me and my husband it's well worth the trade-offs.

But every now and then, hubby and I look around and say to ourselves, "How is it possible that things feel 'tight' when hubby makes such good money?" Or, "How on earth do people make a go of it on less than we earn?"

And every now and then, when I really think about what it takes to raise a family in today's economy I wonder...do women really still have the ability to choose to stay home with their children if they want to? Or are they trapped? Are they forced to work, not only by their own purchasing choices, but by what's happened to our economy because women entered the professional work force in huge numbers some 30 years ago?

Before I tell you much about what Ms. Warren said, some basic info:
- She adjusted everything for inflation. So if you see numbers, don't go thinking that it's all about inflation...she essentially took inflation out of the picture so she could compare apples to apples.
- She studied only one segment of the population: a married couple with 2 children.
- The data she looked at was across the time from ~1970 to ~2003 (basically one generation)

For those of you who don't have an hour to spare, here's a list of some of my favorite points she made:
- Overall, a family's income went up, BUT men's income dropped by $800 per month! Women's incomes increased steadily over time, but men's incomes essentially dropped...or saw no increase over time as is usual.
- In 1970, families were saving roughly 11% of their incomes. In 2003, families are saving less than zero (spending more than they make).
- In the 70's, families were spending about 1/2 their income on "big" expenses (cars, taxes, child care, homes).
- In 2003, we were spending about 3/4 of our income on those same big expenses. We have less money left over after the "biggies".
- The bottom line is that now, families need two jobs to make ends meet.

You know, I always assumed that we, as a one income family, are at greater financial risk since we only have that one source of income. If hubby loses his job, we're in trouble, right? But let's assume that most 2 income families need both of those jobs, or face a financial crisis (and the statistics show that that's the case). Ms. Warren makes some really great points:

- The two income family sees twice the risk of a one income family. They see more risk, not less.
- We have a "backup" worker. If something happens to hubby or his job, I'm available to pitch in. In a two income family, both workers are already "used". If something happens to one of them or their job, they're just out the income provided by that person.
- What happens if a child gets sick? In a one income family, there is one parent available to sit by that child's bedside. In a two income family, when mom or dad goes to sit by that bedside it usually means a lost job. A lost job that was required for that family to keep their head above water.

I'm beginning to understand why she calls it the "Two Income Trap"!

And this is the most amazing statistic yet...I was shocked...ready for this?? Here it is:

This year, more families with children will file for bankruptcy than will file for divorce!!

So think about how many couples you know who have divorced. Statistically speaking, you probably know more people who have filed for bankruptcy.

Well, I've already made this post too long for most of you to still be reading. I encourage you to go check out the video (she's a great speaker), or to check out her book. I'd like to talk more about this though...what do you think of these statistics?

A Letter To The President (Economy)

Dear President Bush,

Hello, Sir. How are you today? I just thought I'd drop you a line to say...you are very welcome. No really, it was my pleasure. I was just doing my part to stimulate the economy like you planned. I did it for you, you know.

All those cute shorts and capris I found and TJMaxx yesterday? I bought them for you...well, for me to wear...but for you and your economic plan, really.

And then I decided that shorts and capris might not do enough for our economy, so I headed over to the mall. To Eddie Bauer to be specific - my favorite store on the planet. I know that I'm a solid size "M" in an Eddie Bauer shirt, and always a size 10 in their pants and shorts. I don't even have to try anything on! I can just wander the store, grab the lovely duds in my size, and head straight to the cash register to do some more economy stimulating.

And then there are the shoes. I saw that Payless was having a buy-one-get-one-half-off sale, so I brought my 5 year old little girl with me and I taught her how important it is to do our part in supporting the health of our economy. What better way to do that then half off shoes? I really can't think of a way.

What's that, you say? But you haven't given me my "economic stimulus" check yet? Oh, I know. But this is America...how best to show my patriotism than to charge everything and then cross my fingers that the check gets here before the bill? It would be downright un-American to do it any other way!

Besides, I was desperate. I haven't bought myself summer clothes in 4 years! I'm not kidding. Last summer I was pregnant with my little Thomas. The summer before that Eddie Bauer had terrible summer colors, and I just couldn't find anything. The summer before that I was pregnant with Samantha. So it was the summer before THAT that I bought new summer clothes...the summer of 2004...4 years ago! Everything I had in my closet was either very worn, didn't fit, or was downright ugly. Like I said, I was desperate.

But that's just the guilt trying to justify spending all that money. I just have to focus on the greater good...the economy of the United States of America.

Well, I know you're busy trying to run the country and dealing with all that stuff going on in Iraq (I have some questions for you about that, actually. I'll save it for another time though), so I'll bring this to a close now.

Thank you for allowing me the honor of helping to support our great nation's financial well-being. If you ever have another economic stimulus plan like the one you just put together...well, then I'm your girl. You can count on me to take one for the team and spend every last dime of that closet...I mean economic...stimulus check.

Just call me a patriot.

Have a very nice day, Mr. President.

Sincerely,

National Health Care...

(Yes, that's 8 POUNDS 7 OUNCES...my "little" Thomas owes me, big time!)

Uh oh. Did I open a can of worms with my comments about national health care? I sure didn't mean to offend anyone. But it's true - I think nationalized health care would be a mess for the US.

In my humble (and admittedly ignorant) opinion on this topic, we only need to look at our public school systems to see how national health care would work out for us.

Namely, everyone would have access to care...but what quality of care? Our kids all get to go to school, but our teachers are terribly underpaid considering their responsibility...and therefore it's tough to attract serious talent (please, teachers, don't write to chew me out...I know that there are some excellent teachers out there...but you're not in it for the money, right?).

And there are pockets of schools in every state in the nation that just plain stink. They are typically in the neighborhoods where there are low incomes...a shame, since those folks can not afford to send their kids to private schools for a better education.

Now translate all of that into health care.

We want the best and the brightest doctors? Well, we'd better motivate the best and the brightest to become doctors then. Money motivates.

We want cutting edge medicines...again, we'd better motivate drug companies to do the research.

Bottom line...competition is healthy. The "losers" drop out, and the "winners" go on to provide great products.

And if there was a national health care system, does that mean that private systems couldn't continue to operate? Nope (remember private schools?). There would be plenty of outstanding options for those who could pay for it with their own money...and there would be minimal care for those who have less.

Is our system perfect? No way. It really bothers me when I hear stories of people who can't get treatment because their insurance doesn't cover it for one reason or another. Do I know how to fix it? Nope. Believe me, if I did, I'd be out there trying to do just that!

Changes do need to happen. I don't know what they are, but a national health care system (at

least as I envision NHC) isn't it.

I'd love to hear from people who know more about this than I do...What do you think of the idea of NHC? How do you envision it working/not working? What are some other options for fixing or improving the system we have?

Nothin' Good For You Today

Sorry for my absence today...I'm sure y'all missed me terribly ;)

My two little ones had to get shots today...terribly traumatic! I'm thankful that Hubby was able to take the morning off of work and go with us. Sammy started whimpering and trying to get away the moment she realized that we were at the doctor's office - poor kiddo. And my little Thomas - what a sport. All smiles and giggles...until the big stick.

I'm feeling a bit neglectful, actually. My Thomas is 5 months old, and he had is 2-month shots today. To be perfectly honest, I've been procrastinating because I'm so afraid of autism! Dang media.

I talked to the doc about it though, and he reassured me that there is absolutely NO scientific correlation between immunizations and autism. He even cited some data from European countries with national health care systems...he said their data was even better than ours since they have data on nearly 100% of their population (given the national health care system and all). I guess there (maybe) is one good thing about national health care. No, I will not be voting for Hillary.

So I let them stick my babies with all kinds of scary stuff. Ahhh...what to do though? It's a statistics game, really. It's statistically more dangerous for them to not have the immunizations. Maybe it's the engineer in me...I like data. And I guess it's the Mommy in me...I cry about it anyway.

They were troopers though. Hey, here's a tip for those of you with little ones...I brought a Life Saver for Samantha. I broke pieces off for her to suck on (trying to make the thing last - shoulda brought more than one silly little Life Saver!). It really helped calm her down for the doctor to look at her, and even helped while she was getting her shots. I'm definitely going to try and remember that for next time!

I'll write more tomorrow. I'm getting in to chapter 3 of the book I've been telling you about. Although chapter 2 was pretty good, chapter 3 is looking like it'll be even more of a disaster than chapter 1. I'll elaborate more tomorrow.

Have a great night everyone.

Oh, and by the way...please...if you have a horror story about immunizations and autism...forgive me for being so insensitive as to not let you share, but please do not tell me about it! With little ones who still need regular shots, I have to be able to sleep at night!

Pro Choice? Pro Life? A Great Article...

One of my favorite bloggers, Shannon from Rocks In My Dryer, has written a very well thought out, logical, respectful article at Blogher on the topic of abortion.

To read her article, click here. The comments that follow her article are also very interesting. I appreciate that the conversation going on over there is so...civilized.

As for my views...well, if you know me, you know I'm pro-life. I agree with Shannon in that we can not know with 100% certainty just when life begins. If we knew, then it would be easy. But since we do not know, I believe we must err on the side of caution.

How about you? I'd love to have our own little conversation here on this topic. That is, of course, if we can do it nicely! Are you pro-choice? Your thoughts are welcome here. In fact, I'd love to understand where you're coming from. And what about the death penalty? Do you think that the two issues are inherently linked, or do you believe we can be pro-life and "pro"-death penalty?