George Osborne Accused of 'Patronising' Stay-at-home Mothers

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: George Osborne has been accused of "patronising" stay-at-home mothers after saying that they have made a "lifestyle choice" and should not receive childcare vouchers.


The Chancellor today unveiled a scheme to encourage women back into the workplace by handing up to £1,200 of taxpayer-funded childcare for each child to families where both parents have a job.

He said that he had "huge respect" for stay-at-home mothers and said that the government will "help" their families by introducing tax breaks for married couples.

However Laura Perrins, a stay-at-home mother who took on the Deputy Prime Minister during a radio phone earlier this year, said that the reported £120 tax breaks were "pathetic" compared to the value of childcare vouchers.

She said: "Saying stay-at-home mothers have made a lifestyle choice is pejorative and patronising. They are contributing to the economy, to society, to everything. Staying at home is not a luxury, it's not a hobby. Women who chose to stay at home make huge sacrifices. » | Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent | Monday, August 05, 2013

Related »

Full-time Mothers Penalised by Government, Says Bishop of Exeter
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Mothers who choose to stay at home to care for their children are being unfairly penalised by a Government that has failed to reward their role at the heart of society, the Bishop of Exeter said on Wednesday night.


The Bishop of Exeter said that traditional families were being hit by the Coalition in a manner that was “actually unfair” and which risked costing society more in the future.

The Rt Rev Michael Langrish, who sits in the House of Lords, said that his views represented those of a number of bishops who are concerned by the Government’s apparent lack of support for family life.

Over the past few months, ministers have removed child benefit from wealthier families with one breadwinner and restricted financial help with child care to those mothers returning to work, yet repeatedly delayed a promise to bring in tax breaks for married couples.

On [sic] Wednesday, an official international study found that single-earner families in Britain were now paying more tax than the international norm — and had seen their financial position worsen significantly since the Coalition was formed. A leading charity is now also warning that economic circumstances are effectively forcing new mothers back to work too early because they cannot afford to stay at home. Working Families said it had been contacted by at least one major employer worried about the health implications of mothers cutting short their maternity leave.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday night, the Rt Rev Langrish said society needs to place a greater value on the role of stay-at-home mothers and fathers, who were part of “the glue which enables us to be a healthy society”. He said the impact was being felt in “middle England” adding: “The concern for me is for those who have made a principled decision to stay at home and taken the financial hit. It is actually unfair and against the Government’s own rhetoric.” » | Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent | Wednesday, March 27, 2013

US Election 2012: Mitt Romney's Wife Ann Thrown into Centre of Women Debate

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Mitt Romney's wife Ann was hurled to the centre of the presidential election, when she was criticised by a Democratic operative for having "never worked a day in her life."

The row began when Hilary Rosen, a strategist who has worked for a number of high-profile Democrats, criticised Mr Romney for using his wife, a stay-at-home mother of five sons, as a surrogate to connect with female voters.

"You have Mitt Romney running around the country saying, well, my wife tells me what women really care about is economic issues," She said on CNN.

"Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life."

Mrs Romney's popularity as a mother and a cancer survivor far outstrips her husband's and within minutes Republicans took to Twitter to hit back at Ms Rosen, criticising her for marginalising women who decided not to go into the workplace. » | Raf Sanchez, Washington | Thursday, April 12, 2012

My comment:

Hilary Rosen clearly hasn’t got her priorities straight. She also knows nothing about the work of a stay-at-home mum. Ann Romney chose to stay at home because she could afford to do so. That she did so is to be applauded. She had the courage to go against the tide of feminism. Would that more women could afford to stay at home, would that more women had the commitment to their children to choose a hard alternative to going out into the workplace and earning lots of money. Ann Romney placed the welfare of her children over her own ambition and achievement. How unselfish is that?

Judging by the crisis in child-rearing both that side of the Pond and this, it’s a great pity that more women who have husbands who can afford to allow them to be full-time mothers don’t choose that option. It would free up jobs in the workplace for unemployed fathers and allow mothers to give their children the informal education at home that children today so need. As the Australians would say: Good on ya, Ann! – © Mark

This comment also appears here

Brown Betrays Stay-at-Home Mums!
This government is about as inept as any government could be! Children need mothers at home. It makes a huge difference to their development. Children do not, cannot, raise themselves! Hence, our government should enable and encourage mothers to stay at home to care for their children. Apart from children benefiting from stay-at-home mums – we can see the results of decades of the neglect of the rôle of conventional motherhood everywhere around us – the country benefits from them, too. Mothers who stay at home are far more likely to have more children. And the fact is that the United Kingdom needs children, children called Jack, Timothy, or Christian! The demographics are turning against the indigenous population. If things go on as they are, it won’t be long before an Islamic flag, depicting the ‘sword of Allah’, will be hoisted above Downing Street. What are our politicians thinking about? How idiotic it is for any government to to demean the rôle of motherhood! – ©Mark

DAILY MAIL: More than eight million women who took time out of work to care for their children have lost their chance of a full state pension after a Christmas u-turn by the Government.

Ministers have dropped plans to give women with a partial pension entitlement the chance to make up the shortfall before they retire, it emerged last night.

The decision was slipped out in the Lords as Parliament adjourned for the holiday break, to the astonishment of peers who had been promised action earlier this year.

The Government had offered to back an amendment to the Pensions Bill that would have allowed women to make up shortfalls in their state pension entitlement by paying in extra cash.

But in what the Tories claimed last night was a 'betrayal of stay at home mums', ministers said they have now decided not to back the scheme. Betrayal of stay-at-home mothers: 8m women lose state pensions after Government u-turn >>> By Benedict Brogan

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