Brace yourselves: this is going to be a ranty one.
Heard the one about the Home Sectetary who reckons ‘economically inactive’ people like stay at home mums could help fill gaps in the UK’s workforce?
Priti Patel has been branded ‘clueless’ after suggesting 8.5 million people not currently seeking work in the UK – including the 1.9 million looking after family or home – could replace the workers we’ll lose when her controversial new points-based immigration plan kicks in at the end of the year. And I couldn’t agree more.
Quite apart from the fact that less than 2 million of the 8.5 million ‘economically inactive’ people in the UK are recorded as actually wanting a job by the Office for National Statistics, what really gets my goat is the implication that stay at home parents aren’t already carrying out a valuable role and contributing to society by caring for and raising little people.
Stay at home mums are not ‘economically inactive’!
I’m sorry, but in my book stay at home mums – and dads – are not economically inactive!
They might technically fall into that definition – they don’t have a paid job, they haven’t looked for one in the past month and they’re not planning to – but that doesn’t make them economically inactive. They’re as economically active as I am, the only difference is they don’t get paid for it.
Quite apart from the fact they’re busily employed raising the next generation of doctors, nurses, teachers, vets, politicians and future prime ministers, there’s also the local economies they’re supporting.
The cafes with the thousands of pounds spent on moral support tea and cake; the yoga classes and tumble tots sessions which benefit the grown ups as much as they do the babies; the water babies and baby massage classes that have helped fellow new parents go into business on their own.
And, even if stay at home parents were happy to fill the government’s self-inflicted workplace gaps, who’s going to look after the children? Anyone with two – or more – preschoolers knows you need to be earning well above the minimum wage, and then some, for it to make financial sense to return to work owing to the eye-watering childcare fees, hence the reason they’re stay at home parents in the first place.
Perhaps it’s because I’m almost eight months’ pregnant and extremely hormonal, or perhaps it’s simply because I’m fed up with the way the role of parents – stay at home, working, work-and-stay-at-home – are constantly undermined and undervalued by the powers that be that’s got me so wound up. Either way, to me the suggestion that stay at home mums – and dads – are economically inactive is as bad as classing them as unemployed.
What do you think? Do news stories like this wind you up too? I’d love to hear your point of view!
Hormonal yes you may be, but long live the hormonal attitude/opinions you have and the freedom with which you speak/write them. I for one read every eloquently written word, and couldn’t agree more!!
I am currently a stay at home mum but I am actually looking for work and it’s hard to find something to fit around my family. A few months ago when my partner and I signed onto Universal Credit after a house move I was pushed into looking for work and there’s not much out there if you live in a rural area and rely on public transport. To be honest we are better off as a family if I don’t work but I am still looking. x
Child care is the issue. Gone are the days when everyone stayed in the same area they grew up in, and have family around to help out. #mmbc
It’s also neglecting who is going to do all the volunteer roles at underfunded schools – in Australia, it’s the stay at home parents that run the canteen, that help with reading in the classroom, on excursions and in kitchen class once a week. Good post. #KCACOLS
I agree with a lot of your comments here. I think it also comes down to the work offered – it needs to be more flexible, which with technology these days is completely feasible. When you have a young child with no family support, it is near impossible for 2 parents to both succeed and be happy at a demanding corporate role. Inevitably, one person has to put family first for a while regardless of whether they want to. And more often than not, that is the mother. This is such a complex topic and I could go on forever, but I wont 😛 Rest up for the remainder of your pregnancy #KCACOLS
Well said! There should never be any stigma attached to stay at home parents. The reality is that should they go to work it may likely lead to their partner having to restrict their work anyway. This would creat far more problems than it would solve.
#KCACOLS
Peersonally, I think she has no idea what she is going on about! Stay at home parents have a valuable, more than full-time job to do all day, every day with no pay or time off. Far from economically inactive. Sure, put the people who should be working, who can work and want to work in the job roles I am sure most will be gla. But stay at home parents shouldn’t be part of this plan at all #kcacols
Priti is pretty clueless. Personally I think SAHMs give an awful lot to this country and should be lauded. #KCACOLS
This story annoyed me too and he clearly doesn’t have a clue what the real world is like. I do love your ranty posts, but your ranty post was needed for this plank. Thank you for linking up with us for #kcacols