Your book is about the aspirations of women for career and family, today and in the past. Let's begin with the obvious: Will there ever be "equity" for women?
Equity is often defined to mean equal earnings for men and women in the same job or between comparable individuals. At the rate we have been going, some calculate that this type of equity will not be achieved in anyone's lifetime. That isn't a hopeful answer. But, rather than take the current circumstances as given and extrapolate, we have to understand what causes this inequity. The gender earnings gap, as it is called, is a lot more than a difference in earnings.
Inequity is in two spheres: that of career and that of family. They are two sides of the same coin. If we can achieve equity within families, we will have a much better chance of achieving gender earnings equality at work. The reason is that children take time. Careers take time. If women do more of the childcare (and household maintenance and eldercare), then they have less time for their careers. They put in fewer hours, they take less demanding jobs and, in consequence, they earn less.
Inequities in caregiving are rooted in history, family norms, and individual preferences. But, even couples who would like to have 50-50 relationships can't. The reason is "greedy work."
So, the gender earnings gap is largely emerging from outside the workplace but is reinforced and widened by factors termed "greedy work" within the workplace. What do you mean by "greedy work"?
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Vision 2030
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BATTLE THE CAR BULGE
Clean, affordable, integrated and accessible public transport the only solution
CONSERVE NOW
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SCRAP THE DUMP
Disincentivise garbage dumping, invest in behavioural change
PLAN THEM COOL
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THINK LONG-TERM
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OVERHAUL OVERDUE
Hold polluting industries accountable for public health risks, environmental hazards, climate change; provide them support for green transition
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Reinvent National Clean Air Programme to focus on fine particulate matter and trans-boundary pollution
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