Chad Marlow

The Real Palin “Women In The Workplace” Question

When Senator John McCain nominated Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate, I think most thoughtful Americans, whether Democrats, Independents or Republicans, were put off by questions about how she could run for Vice President and be a good mother to her children. Fortunately, parenting is a team sport, and her "champion snowmachine racer" husband Todd is just as capable of parenting his children as Gov. Palin is. The question, it was properly pointed out, would never be asked of a male candidate (although, it is important to note, most of those asking the question were not progressive Democrats or from the Obama campaign, contrary to GOP assertions).

But there is an important question the nomination of Sarah Palin gives us an opportunity to discuss that is too commonly absent from regular discussions about the state of the American economy. The question involves why an apparent opportunity for vast economic improvement over the last 60 years -- the shift from one to two wage earning households -- has failed to improve the economic strength of the average American family. One would assume that any increase in a family’s income brought about by a second wage earner would bring about a corresponding increase in that family's purchasing power and economic stability. Sadly, however, while the shift to two-income earning families should have produced a sizable increase in the number of middle class and upper middle class families in the United States, it has failed to do so. Instead, it is more often the case that two incomes are required to produce the same standard of living that a single wage earner could have secured a generation ago.

This is troubling because it not only demonstrates that Americans, in terms of their purchasing power, are getting paid far less for performing the same work, but the need to secure two wages to meet an average family's income has also has deprived them of what many view as the beneficial choice to have a mother or father stay home to raise their children.

Low wages, reduced benefits, the absence of paid family leave, lost retirement security and numerous other economic failings have forced countless Americans families to accept the detriments they believe come with having both parents work while they still struggle to provide the same economic stability as their parents (or, more commonly, single working parent) provided them. Tack on the fact that Americans are working more hours than ever, and you have all the tell-tale signs of an out-of-control, severely broken economic system. Progressive Democrats and conservative "family values" Republicans should be equally outraged by this state of affairs.

What do you think? Let 's start a conversation here on the DMI Blog and elsewhere about how Americans families are consistently forced to work harder and harder, to the potential detriment of their children, without receiving reasonably corresponding benefits for doing so. More importantly, let's discuss what, if anything, can be done to enable Americans to make the choice between securing the benefits of having one parent stay at home with their children or doing twice as well economically with two wage earners as those in past generations did with one.

If Palin's nomination brings a real debate on that subject, we will have found a silver lining in her nomination.

Chad Marlow: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 11:14 AM, Sep 12, 2008 in Women
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