Turning the Clock Back on Women

Forget how American society has reshaped itself over the decades.

Trump et al like the 1950s, even those who weren’t born then. Back to the past.

Republicans want to reshape the tax code to encourage the formation of husband-wife single-earner families with lots of children.

If you want to know the road map for this, read “Project 2025” that was created for the Trump Administration by conservatives. Before the election, Donald Trump denied knowing anything about it. Perhaps he didn’t. But once in office, his administration is following it closely.

Vice President J.D. Vance is one of those pushing this idea. In 2022, just before he launched his Senate campaign, he told a conservative family policy group he wanted to write an essay about why government-subsidized day care was bad — and why most young children do better when one parent stays home. He said,  “Young children are clearly happier and healthier when they spend the day at home with a parent.”

That is hypocritical. He and his wife, Usha, both worked despite having three young children until he was put on the Republican ticket last summer.

And Jenet Erickson, a co-writer for Vance’s essay, said, “We cannot get away from the fact that a child is hard-wired to bond with mom. They know her smell, they know her heartbeat, they know her voice. I just think, why should we deny that?” She is a fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, a conservative policy group that advocates for raising the birthrate.

While the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are discussing a variety of ways to encourage Americans to have more children and for one parent to stay at home, they are not interested in doing anything to make child care more affordable for parents who have to work.

I wonder if any of them have thought about the impact this would have on one-parent families? But then, that shouldn’t happen. Perhaps we need to ban divorce and require people to marry before having children. We could put heavy fines on them for having kids first.

Anyway, conservative politicians and advocates want stronger families which, they say, happens when one parent stays at home to spend more time with the children, in addition to providing more children to reverse the country’s declining birth rate. I wonder if they are thinking primarily of the white birth rate?

Ideas being considered include giving more money to families for each child they have, eliminating federal tax credits for day care and opening up federal lands for the construction of affordable single-family homes.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has proposed expanding the child tax credit to $5,000 per child.

“It gives them that opportunity to say, ‘Oh my gosh, we can actually raise our kids,’” Hawley said.

That $5,000 would not cover the cost of childcare, which averages more than $11,000 per child per year, and more than double that in major cities.

All this flies in the face of contemporary American society where nearly 65 percent of mothers in two-parent households work. And they need to work to  pay the bills.

Now conservative politicians and advocates say they are not pushing mothers out of the work force. They say they are giving them the choice to step back from work if they want to.

How are you giving mothers a choice by making it impossible for them to afford childcare if they work?

Outside of ignoring contemporary American reality, such as the cost of living, including raising children, the conservatives pushing these policies ignore a basic fact: While some excel at staying at home, some women, including excellent mothers, do not do their best staying with their children all day. Some women need the intellectual stimulation of working. Some need the money.

Here’s a hint: It’s not about the amount of time you spend with your children, but the quality of the time. If someone, man or woman, spends all day at home, lacking intellectually stimulation and being bored, how will that benefit their children? Wouldn’t it be better for both parents to work if they want to and then be able to pay real attention to their children.

Instead of trying to turn the clock back through social engineering, wouldn’t it be better for our federal government to help families with the problems they face today?

It seems we have a bunch of conservatives who are nostalgic for a time most of them weren’t born in: the 1950s. I’ve heard over my life some people talk about how it was the best time, when people could leave their doors unlocked and crime was low or non-existent. Where husbands worked and mothers stayed home with their children, keeping house and cooking.

An idyllic time. A time when black and brown people knew their place. When women who were beaten did something to deserve it and marital rape was unheard of. And divorce was rare. When people working in the trades and factories didn’t live a middle-class lifestyle. When white, Anglo-Protestant men ruled the nation. And when a mixed marriage was between a Baptist and a Methodist.

Yes, a time we can all look back on with nostalgia.

A society that limits its women, limits itself.

Thanks Project 2025.