some evidence for parentism

pamela — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:18:55 +0000

A while back, I wrote a little bit on “parentism,” which I defined as “consisting in discriminating against people on account of their parental status, or in individual actions and attitudes or institutional arrangements that favor persons of a particular parental status unjustly.”

Here’s some evidence for the phenomenon: you can buy a box of kid paraphernalia for the purpose of convincing your coworkers that you have a kid and are therefore entitled an important perk of parenthood — skipping out of some work while looking sympathetic instead of like a deadbeat.

The ridiculous thing here is not that someone sells this kit, or that people buy it. What’s ridiculous is that it is even needed in the first place. Some people value things other than spawning. Shocking, I know. Please learn to respect this in the way that you want them to respect your life choices.

h/t bakadesuyo

parentism: an example

pamela — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:45:00 +0000

What is parentism?

Parentism is a less discussed cousin of racism, sexism and classism. On my interpretation, parentism consists in discriminating against people on account of their parental status, or in individual actions and attitudes or institutional arrangements that favor persons of a particular parental status unjustly.

While surely there are cases wherein people are unjustly treated because they do have children, I am more interested in cases wherein people are unjustly treated because they don’t have children.

I got interested in parentism of this kind during a period in my life when I was thinking alot about whether I want to have children, and why or why not. I read especially about the “childfree” movement, whose members prefer to view themselves as having made an active and legitimate choice to pursue values in their lives other than those associate with childrearing, and who seek to avoid the pity garnered by the usual label of “childless.” While I’m still not sure whether my husband and I will have any children, I am glad to have explored this issue on my own before we married.

These personal explorations helped me to realized how biased some thinking and practices are towards the majority of people who do have children. This is something of a strange realization because, as a newish feminist, I simultaneously realize that in the US there is a serious lack of institutional support for parents, and mothers in particular (stingy leave policies, difficulty in taking even mandated leaves, continued wage gap, etc). I think this must be a case where commitment to a value is more established in principle than in practice.

Anyway, I was reading the New York Times and came across a flagrant example of parentism. Take a look at this seemingly innocuous article on the non-family friendliness of working at the White House:

“Family Friendly” White House is Less So for Aides

(free but login is necessary, you could try bugmenot.com)

The article is devoted to telling the sympathetic tales of White House employees whose jobs are so demanding that they don’t have time for their kids. Here’s an excerpt:

White House advisers often work 60 to 70 hours a week and bear the scars of missed birthdays and bedtimes, canceled dinners and play dates, strained marriages and disgruntled children, all for prestigious posts that offer a chance to make an impact and unparalleled access to the president. At a time when the nation is in recession and at war, the public expects no less, many argue.

Still, the Obamas, who also have young children, remain committed to making life more manageable for their aides who are parents, officials say.

First, let me say that I applaud the author of this article for exposing the fact that the lives of White House employees and their children are not the same as the lives of the first family, despite public proclamations by President Obama that he is committed to family friendliness. This is a legitimate issue and, while I’m sure the President’s words are sincere and his intentions in this regard are good, achieving family friendliness is easier said than done.

However, I am dismayed that this article makes absolutely no mention of the White House employees who do not have “families” (read, children). Unfortunately but predictably, it does not seem like equal consideration is given to them. Surely these childfree employees also have lots of things they’d like to be doing with their evenings and weekends — such as seeing their parents, siblings and friends, or doing all the valuable things that can fill a healthy and well-rounded life other than childrearing (attending cultural events, developing non-work-related skills, participating in various associations, resting, etc etc).

Stories of missed time with children tug at many readers’ heartstrings, but stories of childfree peoples’ missed dates, parties, yoga classes, sleep… not so much. And this is parentism in action.

this field is required » parenting

some evidence for parentism

parentism: an example