Urgh, see twenty years ago I’d have said that was sexist, but having gone through the whole family thing, you’re right.
You’re told at school that you must work hard and bombarded with the whole teen mum thing. Don’t do that, that’s bad. And remember it wasn’t long ago, even when I was a kid, that girls were told they shouldn’t do certain jobs. That was crap. Then third wave feminism came along and warped the sensible message (women can be scientists/doctors/whatever/ ) into slagging off motherhood as being lesser. So an entire generation of women has been pushed into work (because you can’t raise a family on one income in the uk unless that income is high) AND sold the myth that you can have it all. So all these women dutifully spend years doing their accountancy exams or medical school or a PhD and think they’re doing what they should be doing and then they hit reality. Maternity leave and small toddlers do not work with a really demanding job unless you’ve got enough cash for a nanny or are a superhuman being. junior doctor jobs do not pay enough to hire a nanny. We have a low wage high tax society.
Most men’s bosses don’t have a culture where men can go part time. Most men, IME, don’t want to either. Way more women do want to. So in effect you’ve got three jobs between two of you. Your job, the fathers job, and domestic/childcare.
Women can’t win, you’re either a shoulder padded catlady bitch, or a parasite for being a stay at home mum. There’s no way to win the game. The compromise is part time hours, which lets women work high skill jobs and still raise families.
So... I don’t blame women GPS for wanting to be part time, but yeah, it’s helping to crash the system. That’s what you get for expanding the tax base. Burned out parents and you can’t fill enough job roles. Dunno what the answer is there to be honest.
So yeah, it’s easy to pin the blame on women (You didn’t, I’m just saying generally) but the blame really is the system which demands both parents work and shove the offspring in childcare. Women have been sold a pup and been told they can have it all.