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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 20, 2023

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This survives reversal somewhat better but not all that well, it wasn't just some weird arbitrary coincidence that pretty much every culture in the world had mothers as primary caregivers and despite the artificial roadblocks men do still out earn women

I don't think you overcame that objection. We aren't an agricultural or early industrial society where male physical strength is determinant of earnings. Men out earn women but it's not that big and gets tiny if you control for years of experience and willingness to work overtime, the stuff women give up if they become mothers.

It can be true that satisfaction from raising kids is higher for women then for men and so it makes sense for most households to have women be the primary caretaker. But it doesn't follow that satisfaction from raising kids + satisfaction from delayed career > satisfaction from immediately pursued career for the majority of women. TFR seems to be lower among educated women with good job prospects improve which suggests to me women are not irrationally deluded but correctly optimizing for life satisfaction. Asking women to unilaterally lower their happiness because it's historical tradition doesn't seem like a successful strategy for raising fertility.

TFR seems to be lower among educated women with good job prospects improve which suggests to me women are not irrationally deluded but correctly optimizing for life satisfaction.

This doesn't really follow, it'd be like claiming people who don't open their parachutes make it fastest to the ground thus they know the best route, of course the women who invest tons of money and time into their careers and put off motherhood put off motherhood. For it to be otherwise would be quite strange.

But honestly this isn't really the point. I don't object to stay at home dads when that's the best option for a couple, it's a thing I sometimes think about doing. What I do object to is that we're really not being all that honest with women. A lot of women hit their thirties before realizing that they have way less time to do this family thing than they thought, and sunk cost prevents them from correcting. We as a society sell them on "having it all" and really really push careers as not just an option but the default option. The biggest dimorphism that still exists is fertility windows. And I totally reject that idea that women are making these decisions with all the facts.