Cherie Blair says gents need to "ease domestic burden"

[FP]

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2381058.ece

Mothers held back under burden of their chores, says Cherie Blair
By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor
Published: 22 March 2007

Men must do more to help ease the domestic burden shouldered by women, Cherie Blair has told a conference on the family and the future role of carers.

Mrs Blair, who once said that she felt she might fall off the "tightrope" when balancing her career with her family life, called for more support for mothers who still hold down jobs.

She told the London conference, which was organised by the left-of-centre think-tank, Demos, that mothers remained the "primary parent" responsible for "buying children's presents and clothes, making sure the fridge was stocked or writing Christmas cards".

"A baby is born. A child develops a high fever. The boiler breaks down. A parent suffers a stroke. These are the everyday events that throw a working woman's delicate balance between work and family into chaos," said Mrs Blair.

This is not the first time Mrs Blair, a judge, high-profile barrister and mother of four, has complained about men not doing their fair share of housework.

In 2003 she told a conference on women's and human rights in Australia that more women worked than ever before but they still shouldered the burden of housework and child care.

In an aside to the audience she said: "I am always quite astonished when I read surveys about how many hours [of housework] men are supposed to do, because in my experience they don't do any at all.'"

Mrs Blair said yesterday it was time to lift the "glass ceiling" in the home, where women are held back under the burden of their chores and responsibility for children and elderly parents.

"That's life, we tell each other," she said. But care, she argued, can no longer be considered a private matter. "We need to find ways to make the invisible visible, to uncover and celebrate the value of unpaid work."

She pointed to the cost to society when things went wrong at home. "Think of the growing number of children in care, the millions of pounds spent on the youth justice system. This is because the care work that takes place in families has a wider social value."

Women "sandwiched" between caring for elderly relatives and dependent children risk losing out on earnings that they will need to support their own retirement, she warns.

Nevertheless, she praised her husband's Government for "acting to help overcome these challenges".

But she adds: "The current reliance on this kind of informal care is unlikely to be sustainable. One way, of course, of finding a long-term solution to these challenges is by involving fathers more in care."

She points to a "quiet revolution" among men who increasingly want to play an active role in their children's care.

"The Government has begun to talk about the importance of men's role as active fathers, not just as breadwinners. It has introduced supportive legislation such as two weeks' statutory paternity leave. But society will need to do more in the future to help them."

In the absence of policies specifically targeted at "helping and supporting fathers", the traditional gender divide will be reinforced, she says.

"Due to the stubborn pay gap, inflexible working patterns and an entrenched working culture, men will end up remaining in the workplace rather than sharing caring responsibilities at home."
Also in this section

[SIAM]

LOL.  She got just about all the feminist myths in there.

Doesn't she pay attention to her husband's work? They're introducing North Korean-style free child care from 2010.

"Due to the stubborn pay gap, inflexible working patterns and an entrenched working culture, men will end up remaining in the workplace rather than sharing caring responsibilities at home."

.....said Cherie Blair, QC, Public Speaker, receiver of free gifts just because she's the prime minister's wife.  She wants to sound like Ghandi while enjoying the lifestyle of Paris Hilton. 

[neonsamurai]

"Due to the stubborn pay gap, inflexible working patterns and an entrenched working culture, men will end up remaining in the workplace rather than sharing caring responsibilities at home."

If things are so great for the Blair's, why isn't she telling us how it can be achieved? And if there's a pay gap in the UK, then surely it's her husbands fault. He is the prime minister afterall...

[zarbyman]

Women used to really work. I mean really work.

I can only imagine the chores say in the early American
frontier days for women (also men).

There is hardly a one of these chores that has not been
greatly reduced whether by technology (washing clothes)
or the service industry (fast food, chain restaurants, etc.)

The chores of a woman have done nothing but gotten easier
over the years. I say just shut the fuck up.

You know, as a single man now, I do all chores around the house.
I pay not only for my household plus most of a second household.

The household chores are a trivial burden compared to the work
necessary to pay house households. Just shut the fuck up.

[K9]

Standard Liberal "blanket party". She's bitching about men needing to step up to the plate, but fails to mention that 3 out of 4 UK men are not allowed to live with their childen. Do these men need to step up as well?

What will happen to the men working 2 or more jobs to pay for CS?

Western civilization is depopulating fast, and they will think of more ways to increase the rate; as in making child rearing so expensive, only the rich will be having babies. I also see stay at home moms having 3 or 4 husbands to support their progeny. Actually, in many circles that happens now. Today's child-support queens are ahead of the curve.

[Fred X]

Cherie Blair doesn't get to tell men anything

She hasn't earned that right and is a femcunt backstabber through and through

Men do need to start doing something though

But it's not what she's on about

Men need to start striking, forming angry mobs outside Westminster, getting the media's attention and saying enough is enough

Fuck Cherie Blair and her patronising tounge

[CaptDMO]

I'm just trying to remember what happened tha last time some pampered,
high profile cunt proclaimed "Let them Eat Cake".

[BRIAN]

Wow.

What I want to know is how she gets her demographic information. I also wonder if Her demographic information takes into account that the male is still more likely to work longer hours outside the home and is more likely to be doing the heavy household chores like yardwork, repairs and such?

[neonsamurai]

Standard Liberal "blanket party". She's bitching about men needing to step up to the plate, but fails to mention that 3 out of 4 UK men are not allowed to live with their childen. Do these men need to step up as well?

K9, did I read that right? 75% of UK men are not allowed to live with their kids? That seems awfully high. Do you know where those stats come from?

Just curious.

[outdoors]

 three words for her "go fuck yourself"

[bachelor tom]

A woman in her position should know better

So either she is ignorant and needs to study up (possible), or she's a feminist ideologue in all but name (likely)

[Tigerman]

I think Cherie has a point!  

[ramcharger1985]

I'll respond to this the same way women would respond to a man:

Suck it up, bitch.

[zarbyman]

Western civilization is depopulating fast, and they will think of more ways to increase the rate; as in making child rearing so expensive, only the rich will be having babies.

Where I am, it is the opposite. The poor have babies -- lot's of them. I see all the time women and men who have 7 or even more children. These are people with no money at all and no skills.

Meanwhile, the "rich" or sold middle income types have few or sometimes even no children.

The "poor" women have incentives to have children -- welfare, child support, etc. The "poor" men
live day to day and I  guess just don't worry about child support much. They have little to lose
(they may spend some time in jail but what the hell that is years down the line from the "fun").

There is kind of a reverse darwinism going on. The least successful members of the species are
reproducing the most. This is really great for the future of the species (and civilization).

[Men's Rights Activist]

Men must do more to help ease the domestic burden shouldered by women, Cherie Blair has told a conference on the family and the future role of carers.

Hogwash!!!