partTimeParent: "But hey, women put their kids up for adoption, and never see their kids again, and they don't pay C$A either"
Usual Suspect: "Ha, I wonder if the adopting parents can apply for CSA from the bilogical father? Surely in America they can."

As part of the latest round of changes, Australian grandparents can now apply to CSA for child support from both parents. And no, you definitely don’t have to be a biological father to be liable.

Country Gal: "I'm about sick of supporting my husband while he spends every cent he earns on himself, whilst I also do 90% of the child-raising (he contributes just enough to disrupt every routine that starts to work), 95% of the house-work and 100% of the household financial management."

Good to see you take a day off and post again on OLO. Divorce him. I'm a bit over the daily grind at the office, so would be happy to look after children (ahem, design and implement child development programmes).

billie: "Might I point out that the in 1950s computers were women maths graduates involved in doing intricate mathmatics calculations over a 3 week period. How would you know where you had got up to before your lunch break? Consequently more than half the early computer programmers were women. Women have left the IT field because of unfamily friendly work practices so that now less than 20% of IT professionals are women."

Not sure about your 50% figure, but I can be sure that women were needed to restack the punch cards in their correct sequence after the real programmers arrive back from long lunches and drop them ;-)

And this decline seems to be worsening:

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=nerdy+CIT+computer+girls&btnG=Search&meta

Seeker your lack of knowledge should be no basis to contest other people's statements. Do a search on Grace Hopper or Cheltenham.

billie,

' Women have left the IT field because of unfamily friendly work practices '

Are you sure? I'm in IT and I don't see any unfamily friendly work practices. Definately more family friendly than say nursing with it's late shifts. Do you have any figures on this? Is it just possible that IT work doesn't appeal to as many women as men, as suggested by seekers link?

Glad to hear your workplace isn't insisting on 50+ hours per week, all year long.

Ambitious young IT professionals assume long hours at work will be noted and the employer will reciprocate with good pay and steady employment. Not like Westpac who announced it is going to outsource 3000 jobs to India.

from The Age Letters - 2 May

I AM writing this because I am bored — twiddling my thumbs in a mind-numbing role at one of Australia's largest financial institutions. Despite my combined arts/law degree, 13 years experience in the financial services sector and a string of successes behind me, I am excluded, consistently overlooked and working way below my capabilities. Why? Because I am a mother of three young children and choose to work part-time.

I find myself in the very position I was so determined to avoid when I started my family. I am left asking — why did I bother to continue working at all? Why did I lug that damned breast pump with me into the city in those early days? Why did I pay those astronomical amounts to have my kids cared for? And why did I put myself, my husband and my children through the sheer hell of getting out of bed, fed, dressed and out the door by 7.45am three days a week? It certainly wasn't worth it and I am tired of the battle.

Billie,

I feel for the woman, but we only have her word for it that she is 'excluded, consistently overlooked and working way below my capabilities'. Perhaps she is, or perhaps she over-estimates her capabilities. Perhaps she is, but it's nothing to do with working part time or having family responsibilities, and she should just find another employer like most people in this position. Even if she is, by her own admition, she chooses to work part time, as I'm sure she chose to have children.

As I said, I feel for her, but it does no good to play the victim, or believe the world should arange itself around your wants and needs so you don't have to make any sacrifices. I do think women in particular are silly to believe it when they are told they can have everything, and I don't see the crime in employers promoting people who can at least work 5 days a week to positions of seniority.

You may say that means women are discriminated against, but really it's about choices. If you're a woman and want to further your career, either you have to find a partner who earns less and is happy to stay at home if you have children, pay for the child care, or don't have children if career is that important to you, or work for yourself, or be so amazing at your job that you can dictate terms to your employer.

I know I would love to stay at home while my wife goes to work, that it's my and my partners choice that I work, because I earn more, and that's the sacrifice I have to make to afford a better lifestyle.

Usual suspect "I know I would love to stay at home while my wife goes to work, that it's my and my partners choice that I work, because I earn more, and that's the sacrifice I have to make to afford a better lifestyle."

Mate, don't play that game. I am a father, have a young daughter and another on the way. I work a 4-day week as does her mother.

Do the maths... that is an 8-day working week! We earn MORE by sharing the "work-work' and neither of us have all the priviledges of doing the so-called "house-work".

THink about it, do you earn so-much-more than her? That yo end up with more $ working full-time, instead of each of you working equally, adding up to an 8-day week?

I long ago decided I was NOT going to be the parent who PAYS for my kids, while my wife PLAYS with them.

The argument "that my husband earns more than I do" is disingeneous for two reasons. Firstly because it doesn't add up (due to the 8-day-week scenario)

Secondly because women nearly always marry men who earn more then they do... It is the nature of female attraction... So she has set-up the situation so that she can stop working from the day you met...

(Note: I said "nearly always" there are exceptions, but this is clearly the typical scenario)

THis also has an unfortunate consequence for women and fertility... with two-thirds of graduates being female now (due to anti-male discrimination in school) there simply are not enough male earners to provide husbands for all these professional women... Added to this is the "Marriage Strike" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_strike where middle-class men are simply saying "no" to marriage.

Fix up your life, share the work and share the fun... work the SAME hours.