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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to feel put out that the 2011 census doesn't seem to recognise the value of a parent staying at home to bring up children?

60 replies

Minicooper · 09/03/2011 16:11

Just filled in my form and got to the part where it asks about employment. No, I did not have a paid job last week, no, I was not actively looking for paid work during the last 4 weeks, no, if a job had been available last week, I could not have started it within 2 weeks, no I was not waiting for a job already obtained. AIBU to feel that the assumption was that if I'm not being paid, then I'm sitting around, watching daytime TV and sponging off the state (neither of which is true ) I finally got to tick that last week I was looking after home or family, but only after having to fill in the rest. Another example of how being a SAHP goes against the grain these days.

OP posts:

TooManyPufflesInMyIgloo · 09/03/2011 19:44

It doesn't do a very good job of providing statistics though. I'm a SAHM but I also do an hour or so a week bookkeeping for dh, which counts as "working at least one hour in paid employment", so I filled in 26 and didn't get the chance to say that I was looking after "home and family" most of the time. They also didn't want to know if I was looking for work, either, cos I worked for 1 hour and apparently that is enough.

hairylights · 09/03/2011 19:47

You do all know it says to fill it in on the 27th March, don't you???!!!

Why are people so desperate that they count as 'looking after home and family' - genuine quesition - I don't get it.

tougholdbird · 09/03/2011 19:50

In previous times it'd probably have been sent to the man of the house who would have listed you as a dependant.

motheroftwoboys · 09/03/2011 19:54

in the earlier census woman often were listed as wife of miner or similar. however there were plenty of woman as heads of households. early census weren't filled in by the men, they were filled in by the census collector as most people couldn't read or write. That has caused real problems because the people who wrote the information down often misheard or misspelt names and now the people who are transcribing them can't read the writing. Can't you tell I have an unhealthy interest in geneology.

hairylights · 09/03/2011 19:57

yes Mother I have researched my family tree - most of the women in my family going back into the 1800s were listed as having professions... seamstress, housekeeper (for pay), etc etc. It's a bit of a myth that women were all SAHMs in times gone by.

givemeaclue · 09/03/2011 22:22

You've got till the 27th though to become MD of a multinational company...

hmc · 09/03/2011 22:26

As a historian the census is of value for broader reasons than simply looking at economic participation - it helps future historians build a picture of a certain era. Certainly I've used past census information before

So I think it is missing a trick if there is no [tick box] for SAHP. It's good to have accurate data on social trends

hmc · 09/03/2011 22:26

I haven't looked at it yet though...

mumeeee · 09/03/2011 23:37

Why are you filling the form in now. It is not supposed to be done until March 27th. Oh and yes YABU

LadyThumb · 09/03/2011 23:41

I can't believe the number of people filling in their forms NOW !! Perhaps they know something I don't and can see into the future? Giss the lottery numbers, then!

ChasingSquirrels · 09/03/2011 23:42

why does it let you submit it now then?

Chil1234 · 10/03/2011 07:14

Lets you fill it in now if you think it's fairly certain that your household will look the same on the 27th March as it does today. If you fill it in online and don't press 'submit' at the end, you can go back and change it if necessary, and the form will be automatically submitted after March 27th.

YABU OP.... I think you're reading far too much into a simple set of questions.

wordfactory · 10/03/2011 07:28

Oh for heaven's sake - it's a census. How can it make a value judgement?

On a thread yesterday, a poster said that being a SAHP required a shift of mindset that no longer would there be outside recognition for what you do each day.

I think this is emminently sensible.

The outide world are simply not interested in the minutae of your life. Nor should they be.

That said I think it would be informative to know what the group of people who were not working actually did eg SAHP, retired etc
But it wouldn't give being a SAHP any more value.

Original poster

Minicooper · 10/03/2011 08:58

Ok, wordfactory, let's be pedantic! The PEOPLE who wrote the Census did not see being a SAHP as being a large enough group to recognise as a valid way of spending a few years. Hmc put it better than me - I just think its interesting that the social trend is such now that it isn't even listed as an option. And ticking a box that says you are looking after home or family doesn't really cover it IMO - looking after a house is quite different to looking after preschool children - or being a SAHP once children are at school.

OP posts:

tougholdbird · 10/03/2011 16:26

In what way is 'looking after family' not the same as being a SAHP? Hmc hadn't even looked to see if there was a box - there is a box for SAHP, it's called the 'looking after family' box.

CrystalStair · 10/03/2011 16:30

Giving 'value' to the info isn't the job of a census - it's just a record. Of course it will be used in all sorts of public policy ways. But so are many other daily exchanges - far more so. At least this is only once a decade.

Generally, I love it having started researching my family tree. Not many lacemakers and merchant seamen in this year's one I bet.

CrystalStair · 10/03/2011 16:31

By the way, lots of professions listed for the women in 'the old days' too.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 10/03/2011 16:39

There are many reasons a person might be neither in work nor looking for work. I guess the census collectors just don't need the degree of granularity that having "Retired", "SAHP" or whatever would provide.

BettyCash · 10/03/2011 16:42

MillyR · 10/03/2011 17:23

YABU. Question 30 asks you to tick a box if you are looking after home and family. So the census does represent SAHMs. What it doesn't represent are people who work and look after a home and family, because people who work are not allowed to answer question 30. That seems absurd to me because a full time student or a SAHM with a one hour Saturday job would have to tick the box to say they were employed, and then couldn't fill in box 30 to declare that most of the time they are actually a FT student or a SAHM!

meditrina · 10/03/2011 17:32

What seems to be totally missing is volunteering.

I work part-time, unpaid, for a charity. Doesn't fit anywhere.

Big Society, anyone?

MillyR · 10/03/2011 17:35

Excellent point, Meditrina.

Original poster

Minicooper · 10/03/2011 18:18

Good points Milly and Meditrina. Though I do think, Milly that there is a big difference between looking after a family and looking after a home! One you have all the time in the world and the other you have - well, none!

OP posts:

FellatioNelson · 10/03/2011 18:23

Yes, I was a bit cheesed off by that as well.

FellatioNelson · 10/03/2011 18:25

Also, that whole nonsense about the details of my last job - it was nearly 19 years ago.

And the bit where it says 'if you were offered a job in the next two weeks would you be free to take it?

Er, yes, but I wouldn't necessarily want or need to, but I'm not allowed to say that.

It's very oddly/irrelevantly worded in parts.

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