Birthrates are falling globally except in Islamic world. Japan, China in the East and European countries in the west have tried to improve this and failed. Lets solve it.
Okay so all of what you're saying are very surface level and dont get into the mindset of a mother, except the part around designing work around family life.
I'm a mom currently working on getting underemployed. Why? Because my previous line of work doesn't give me time to actually enjoy my family. Everyone tries to blame intense parenting or whatever, but the truth is, kids need SOME time with their parents at least and the more 1-1 time you give them, the more they thrive. I don't want to be fixing bugs at dinnertime, or worse, waiting for my kid to fall asleep so I can launch straight back into work. Doesn't matter how much help I have with childcare. I actually don't want help with childcare beyond school. I want to outsource my work beyond the schoolday.
Do we need a second income because our expenses are too high? No, actually. We can manage great on one income. But there's so much uncertainty about that one income now! Layoffs are frequent. If you're a business owner, income can be uncertain, especially in these times. And if you're reliant on one income, then that partner can't take any risks at all, so you don't have a chance to actually get rich or pursue your true potential. And all this is when times are good. When you get hit with illness and other real uncertainties, you don't want to be left unprepared to take on the financial responsibilities.
The main issue is that most lines of work considered "successful" don't give you time to spend with family and neighbors and the humdrum world around you. Jobs are no longer like a family and they don't want you to bring your full self. So you spend most of your day being this clinical, perfect person with no part of your personality that causes any friction. Starting a family, or spending time with family means your head is more in mess than is considered acceptable for work. As a new mom back at work, all I wanted to do was talk about my baby, but that gets grating quick.
So if that's what breeds success, then you want to spend more time being that sterile person until it hurts. You get a partner because that partner-shaped hole is too much to bear and is affecting your ability to be normal at work. But even if you feel a child shaped hole, it ruins your ability to be the perfect employee. Even if you consciously know thats a horrible reason, it subconsciously affects you.
I now completely understand the hankering for a sarkari job. Sarkari job puts you on a career path. It pays you enough to afford a family. It gives you time off while holding your job for you when life happens. It gives you time to spend with family (unless you work directly under modiji). If something happens to you on your job, the government takes care of your family.
If a regular job doesn't do that, and your family isn't of sufficient means to do that, then, yeah, any responsible person is going to make sure they prioritize their job so they can keep it and keep getting paid.
The more time you spend around your family, the better you get at it and the more you decide you want to see of your family. If whole life centers around work, then family is a burden. This grass is green where you water it the most.
Thank you! Reinventing work has been one of my pet areas. Our idea of work draws a lot from military - hence it is away from family. Modern work has to be created around family - if we want it to be sustainable. On-site creches made a start in that direction but lost their way. If I squint I can understand community-based enterprise embedded in the jati system may have been a response to some of these challenges.
Yet I do think the other issues - community design, high-trust neighbourhoods are urban design issues (another pet area) that lean in a particular direction - away from family.
So also the economic system creates unnecessary risks for people. The low-interest rate regime we create high real estate prices (its a petting zoo!!) and raise the costs and risks to families.
These are invisible cages families have been put into by policymakers, social norms and evolution of work. I believe those are constraints that create the realities experienced by families as they decide if/when/how-many kids to have. I think we can break these cages - reinvent work and social norms. We need a nudge in that direction.
Yeah this has had me hankering for guilds that manage basically your entire work cycle. Unions aren't it. We should look more closely at work practices of indian pre-industrial guilds for ideas.
That and getting paid for a job as a family. My husband is also a programmer like me. What if we could get one salary but both of us do the job in whatever way we see fit for our family? But that doesn't exist unless you become a freelancer of some sort.
Okay so all of what you're saying are very surface level and dont get into the mindset of a mother, except the part around designing work around family life.
I'm a mom currently working on getting underemployed. Why? Because my previous line of work doesn't give me time to actually enjoy my family. Everyone tries to blame intense parenting or whatever, but the truth is, kids need SOME time with their parents at least and the more 1-1 time you give them, the more they thrive. I don't want to be fixing bugs at dinnertime, or worse, waiting for my kid to fall asleep so I can launch straight back into work. Doesn't matter how much help I have with childcare. I actually don't want help with childcare beyond school. I want to outsource my work beyond the schoolday.
Do we need a second income because our expenses are too high? No, actually. We can manage great on one income. But there's so much uncertainty about that one income now! Layoffs are frequent. If you're a business owner, income can be uncertain, especially in these times. And if you're reliant on one income, then that partner can't take any risks at all, so you don't have a chance to actually get rich or pursue your true potential. And all this is when times are good. When you get hit with illness and other real uncertainties, you don't want to be left unprepared to take on the financial responsibilities.
The main issue is that most lines of work considered "successful" don't give you time to spend with family and neighbors and the humdrum world around you. Jobs are no longer like a family and they don't want you to bring your full self. So you spend most of your day being this clinical, perfect person with no part of your personality that causes any friction. Starting a family, or spending time with family means your head is more in mess than is considered acceptable for work. As a new mom back at work, all I wanted to do was talk about my baby, but that gets grating quick.
So if that's what breeds success, then you want to spend more time being that sterile person until it hurts. You get a partner because that partner-shaped hole is too much to bear and is affecting your ability to be normal at work. But even if you feel a child shaped hole, it ruins your ability to be the perfect employee. Even if you consciously know thats a horrible reason, it subconsciously affects you.
I now completely understand the hankering for a sarkari job. Sarkari job puts you on a career path. It pays you enough to afford a family. It gives you time off while holding your job for you when life happens. It gives you time to spend with family (unless you work directly under modiji). If something happens to you on your job, the government takes care of your family.
If a regular job doesn't do that, and your family isn't of sufficient means to do that, then, yeah, any responsible person is going to make sure they prioritize their job so they can keep it and keep getting paid.
The more time you spend around your family, the better you get at it and the more you decide you want to see of your family. If whole life centers around work, then family is a burden. This grass is green where you water it the most.
Thank you! Reinventing work has been one of my pet areas. Our idea of work draws a lot from military - hence it is away from family. Modern work has to be created around family - if we want it to be sustainable. On-site creches made a start in that direction but lost their way. If I squint I can understand community-based enterprise embedded in the jati system may have been a response to some of these challenges.
Yet I do think the other issues - community design, high-trust neighbourhoods are urban design issues (another pet area) that lean in a particular direction - away from family.
So also the economic system creates unnecessary risks for people. The low-interest rate regime we create high real estate prices (its a petting zoo!!) and raise the costs and risks to families.
These are invisible cages families have been put into by policymakers, social norms and evolution of work. I believe those are constraints that create the realities experienced by families as they decide if/when/how-many kids to have. I think we can break these cages - reinvent work and social norms. We need a nudge in that direction.
Yeah this has had me hankering for guilds that manage basically your entire work cycle. Unions aren't it. We should look more closely at work practices of indian pre-industrial guilds for ideas.
That and getting paid for a job as a family. My husband is also a programmer like me. What if we could get one salary but both of us do the job in whatever way we see fit for our family? But that doesn't exist unless you become a freelancer of some sort.
Redesigning work around family life is the crucial thing. We need an alternate form of economics for that.
Is that an AI image Rahul? The babies faces look like adults. 🤭
Shit! I need more practice with AI