"It may be better news for women... to look after their own children and fit jobs into the child's day"

[SleepWhenImDead]

So says Jill Kirby, director of the Conservative think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies in this BBC article.

Seriously, what planet is this lady on? She makes out like it's a NEW idea for women to either not to work or to work hours to limit the amount of childcare that's needed. Well done Jill, we'd never thought of that before you suggested it!

I'm going to be hard hit from these cuts to public sector, I'm currently on maternity leave but due to be made redundant anyway. The public sector is the place I'd need to get a job, and get child-friendly hours. DOes this Jill think we get to CHOOSE these things, like a job is something you do for fun to avoid looking after your own children?! Think I might as well give up even hoping for a job and soon we'll lose our child benefit as well. I'm attacked on all directions!

Jill says it's a great day for Think Tanks anyone care to drop her a comment?

www.cps.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=388:a-great-day-for-think-tanks&catid=3:general&Itemid=42

is this some type of joke?

please please please let this be some sick type of joke... please dont tell me that the current govt actually listens and takes on board what this lady is saying?

shouldnt we promote choice? shouldnt it be up to the individual family how they structure themselves to make ends meet? why then, if the family chooses to have both parents working or only one why should the state deem who the most appropriate one should be?

Just because working full time didnt suit Jill when her first child was born, doesnt mean that it wont suit others. Me being the main full time working breadwinner suits our family, how dare she suggest otherwise.

I agree, it took me until my mid-30s to be sufficiently self-confident to recognise my own skills and value.

Thanks Black bag. She writes: 'Shrinking the State, closing down quangos and databases, taking the poor out of tax, freeing up schools, localising decision-making - these are great policies which the Centre for Policy Studies, among others, has long advocated and will be delighted to see implemented.'

Can we cut and paste our whole discussion and send it to her? Don't know how to do it myself.

lateatwork I am presuming becuase the result of the fiscal crises is a job shoirtage (beiong as non judgemental there as I an wrt to party politics LOL- too much debate being lost atm under an avalanche of he said / labour did / she woudln't / tories can't crap)

Pull hal;f the workforce out by dint of gender then it free ups work; many one income famillies wills till get zero help (witness semi buried drop in tc threshold to under £25k for one child next year) ergo more working famillies less claimants

Except A_ employment should be on meir not gender; B) Equaloity is a valid aim in itself C) some of us- defintiely me are shite housewives: oh I am a greatc arer, battler for the vulnerable etc- terrible housewife though: would be far better if I could employ someone to do it, for all concerned.

And something us carers have been harking on about for ages that will now resonate with more epople: the value of ^choice&l once you ahve paid the bills etc, having teh choice to work / access chidlcare / be a SAHM or toehrwise is an invaluable commodity and very much tied up with indovidual worth and wellbeing.

Is it possible I wonder to point out similarities with the isolisation fo teh domestic Goddess in poverty hit post WW1 Germany without everyone thinking I am trying to suggest the Tories are Nazis? becuase there are not but there are fiscal and ideological parallels.

People and families make the decisions(or lack of decisions) they think best suit them, based on different situations, preconceptions, priorities and timeframes, and goodness knows what else. It's the way the world works - isn't it?

And some woman yattering about school-hours jobs? Well in her situation/social stratum it probably makes sense, as well as possibly for the section of society she thinks she's thinking about. Just credit the rest of us to have thought it through to a greater level of detail/the best of our ability for our individual situations - purlease!

No way am I stopping working one way or another. I'd be unhappy and so would the kids. I'd end up doing meaningless things to make myself feel worthwhile. And whatever social policy says/pushes I'm damn well going to find some way round it. Now can I figure out some way to make it pay off in 5 years time? Well I think one part of the answer is to stop mumsnetting and pontificating because if I was working now I'd have more time to think later.

Anytime you see me on here in the future, please tell me to sod off and get on with doing something useful with my life.

Waits for flaming and or message deletion....

What SolidButShambling said "What they want is women doing the caring/cleaning/essential-but-low-status work for no pay"

Depressing but I fear it is true for the government and it's an attitude I see in large sections of society, particularly in the older generation, some of whom don't seem to be capable of understanding that a lot of families need two incomes to survive.

What an absolute arse. I work full time and am the main breadwinner - from home. BUT I am extraordinarily fortunate to work with progressive and free thinking clients who allow it. I am by far in the minority.

If I had to work in an office I couldnt work any more and seeing as how my contribution to the economy last year ran to over a million in terms of revenues generated for the businesses I work for,not including the tax I pay for my income, I think my skills are BLOODY IMPORTANT to the economy, as are those of colleagues in other businesses who DO have to work in an office and ALSO make companies a lot of money. AND HAPPEN TO DARE TO BE FEMALE. God women like this make me furious.

Get back to the victorian era you ridiculous woman. MNHQ - seeing as she has such marvellous opinions about women and is advising our government, can you get her on here for a webchat! WE WANT A WORD.

Perhaps I missed the terrible part of what she said.

I don't think a webchat would be of any use whatsoever in getting Jill Kirby to see the error of her ways. Her views are deeply entrenched and she truly believes that she is right and the rest of us are talking out of our arses. If we ever did manage to have a talk with her, it would be the MN members who would be branded as harpies and held up as examples of why Britain is Broken

That women who work in lower paid jobs, that serve society, like childminders and ambulance crew dont matter as they dont contribute enough to the economy so they would be better off at home looking at their own children.

For a start.

Lutyens I think with some of the intellect and reasoning skills held by some mnetters that is unlikely. Keep questions approved if needs be but I think we should get a say as women in the direction of our lives and women like her should not be the ones creating it.

Oh no, I'm not against a webchat. It would be fantastic to actually get her to listen. I just don't think it will change her views in any way. She doesn't look like the kind of person who changes her opinion on anything.

Ermm, should I phone my uni and ask if there's any point in me finishing my Social Work degree?

It seems that the Tories want to get rid of us and the people who need us.

With all the cuts, student finance hikes etc I genuinely don't know what's the best thing to do.

I always wanted to work for my own mind, for money, to help people and so DC could be inspired.

It seems Dave would rather I cut my losses and stayed home.

I bet she wouldn't change her mind even if she was ill in hospital and there were no nurses or cleaners there and was told "nurses and cleaners are not economically important jobs so we abolished them", or "these jobs were done by women, we got rid of them so they could go home and do their cleaning and look after their kids and men won't work for the shit wages the women used to."

y, the UN did a study a while ago and discovered 65% of the world''s work was done by women, of which 60% of that was unpaid. This is why women own a tiny amount of the world's resources and suffer the most poverty. And it is people like Jill Kirby who keep that going...but she's all right because she's married to a rich man. For the 95% of women who are not married to a man in that income bracket, could we please be heard too?

I notice Kathy Gyngell is also involved with that very same think tank. Yes, the one who married the millionaire TV guy Bruce Gyngell.

I was busy teaching her boys for peanuts in the 1990s (actually £7500 per annum) while she was swanning about pontificating publicly on the subject of why mothers shouldn't work.

Employing a Norland Nanny allowed her to free up enough time in order to do this pontificating.

I do not have a lot of respect for these people.

where are all the important women in the media who are talking up our rights on our side? there so many stupid people who get all this air time and attention at 99% of the time they are saying the opoosite of my point of view. If so many other people i talk to feel the same as me how did the tories even get into power? and why is there no public argument in my favour?

All seems very suspect to me....

tryliking I am due to start mine in 18 moths (MA in ASD right now) and there will be a call, albeit by charity or even privatised menas (one coulcil looking tp proivatise CP: ridiculous)

Keep going

ImGideonsMum, i find your posts really really hard to read, i tend to skim read these threads and i can't make sense of your posts without trying really hard so i often just skip over them. Can you please slow down your typing so you make fewer typos as I am sure what you say is worth reading

. thank you

Fuck 'em

(PGdip in Psych and voluntary work right now, PGDE in two years - hope to be working full time teaching after that.)

If my three kids want to go to university, I am going to have to work full time to pay for it.

Amidai- sorry, can't read what appears on screen am afraid (eyesight issues) I know its a PITA, did ahve glasses but can't find them (probably becuase I don;t have my glasses...)

I do understand when people skip my posts though.

LOL too at the idea of certain jobs not contributing to the economy. Surely everyone who works either pays taxes or has some money to spend? Is this not contributing to the economy or am I missing some fundamental point about how economies operate? How does an economy work without money...

(So do we still love the Lib Dems?)

Today.

My Son's Teacher is a Woman. My Son's TA is a Woman. The Head Teacher is a Woman.

I then went to the hospital.

To see the Consultant Midwife. A Woman. In the meantime I stopped into the cafe and bought a bottle of juice. The person who served me was a Woman. The person waiting for their toast was a Woman, she worked on the wards as a cleaner.

After seeing the CM, I had to go and make an appointment to see the OB. The receptionist was a Woman.

I had to put some petrol in the car, the person on the till was a Woman.

I work part time (when not on mat leave) and over 90% of our staff our Women.

Should we all be sacked as useless, unproductive members of society?

I should also mention that my physio is a Woman. My Doctor is a Woman. My normal midwife is a Woman. The Doctors desk is manned by two ladies.

Yep, all of us worthless members of today's society. Get back to the sink the lot of you.

So glad others heard this interview. I was aghast on so many fronts. Childcare doesn't really to add to GDP.... so their disposable income doesn't help the economy or help them pay their bills. Also most mums would love to work school hours but such jobs are scarce and there is the small matter of childcare in the holidays. I'm not sure what planet she lives in but not ours in the 21st century. Families need two incomes to service a mortgage and why should capable professional women not have a choice.Ourright to work has been hard fought Many of us work part-time so we still care for our children. It's all part of Dave's big society idea. Even more concerned she is advising the government. God help us!

This is horrible and I wanted to add my normally not left wing indignation.

Actually, the reason I'm anti-Labour is their sexist policies about childcare for middle class women (trying to remove childcare vouchers for HRT, limiting the amount of childcare vouchers so that many teachers, nurses etc can't afford to work if they aren't eligible for tax credits). Labour had a policies which limited the opportunities for the middle class and not-surprisingly nothing's changed (though the unfair hit on single income HRT families shocked me, I would have thought that was where the Conservatives would offer support).