Comments on: Who ever thought you’d be punished for regularly seeing a doctor?

By: Historiann

Historiann — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:37:18 +0000

Thanks for the link–I’m a Bryn Mawr graduate myself (1990), so it’s fun to hear about people at my old college reading my blog.

By: George

George — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:04:18 +0000

Actually, that article was even posted on this site by Alexandra. I hadn’t noticed it before I commented (obviously:) ). But I am not sure how much credit I should actually give the NY Times article after reading it. It seemed like it was trying too hard to be sensationalist rather than factual.

The article even says that:
“When women are unemployed and looking for a job, the time they spend daily taking care of children nearly doubles. Unemployed men’s child care duties, by contrast, are virtually identical to those of their working counterparts, and they instead spend more time sleeping, watching TV and looking for a job, along with other domestic activities.”

So gender roles are not being changed, the woman is still the main care-giver for the children in a typical household. The man on the other hand is busy looking for a way to get back to being the main “breadwinner” (to use the language from the article), however he does not have a tendency to help in the house the way he should.

By: Guinevere

Guinevere — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:40:57 +0000

Interesting that you mention women being less likely to get/have jobs in this recession. Historiann mentions another New York Times article, "As Layoffs Surge, Women May Pass Men in Job Force," in her Friday news round-up. The article discusses the evidence of its claim, but also how this may affect gender roles, especially when it comes to raising children and doing housework.

By: George

George — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:06:57 +0000

I just think it is interesting to see how old world insurance companies are in a society that is supposed to be moving away from these old stereotypes. In a predominantly heterosexual nation where men are still encouraged to have sex with anyone who has a vagina, doesn’t the responsibility of paying for the pregnancy and the maternity care fall also to the person who impregnated the woman in the first place? The NY Times article quotes “Cecil D. Bykerk, president of the Society of Actuaries, a professional organization, said that if male and female premiums were equalized, women would pay less but ‘rates for men would go up.’ ”
But shouldn’t that be an alright thing to do if men are half of the reason women get pregnant and are considered to be merely baby-making machines in the eyes of insurance companies? (Oooh! woman are machines! Gender AND Technology anyone?) Even if the man is not the woman’s partner, he still owes her health care during atleast pregnancy. C’mon!!! Women get paid 75 cents to a man’s dollar (and I get the feeling men might have an easier time finding jobs in this economic crisis than women too… it’s just a hunch) so make the premiums equal already!

Great article Guinevere! And I also enjoyed Historiann’s response to it as well.