Social security

Just before Mother’s Day every year there’s a story about how much money a stay-at-home mom would be paid if she were paid for all the jobs she does. This year, Salary.com puts the figure at $134,121, averaging in the time spent on jobs including housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, CEO and psychologist.

I get that this is a way to illustrate the value of what moms who care full time for their children do, but the fact is, women don’t get paid for this tiring, never-ending work and assigning a fake dollar figure to it is really kind of patronizing and not very useful.

Now, if you want to talk about how the Social Security system does a number on women who take time off of work to care for family or do so and end up getting divorced, that would be time well spent. Read More »