Many parents are vocal about their rights, but what about those childfree workers who are silently resentful about the many company policies which benefit only childed workers? All too often childfree employees are unwilling to speak out for fear of being called anti-child or encountering antagonism from the majority of parents who work. There are many company plans to benefit childed workers such as flextime for parents, tax credits, school vouchers, parental leaves and childcare benefits, but little compensation provided similarly for childfree employees. While the childfree don't always want these programs taken away from the childed, they do want similar or equal dollar amount and/or time benefits for themselves. For example, if a company offers flextime for parents, why not give childfree workers that same amount of time for whatever our needs are?
Recently in an article from Knight-Ridder Newspapers a study stated that women under thirty-five who have no children have reached paycheck parity with male colleagues. And while this is considered a victory for the equal-pay-for-equal-work movement, there is still concern among working mothers about this fact: "Once women start bearing children, they fall behind men in both pay and promotions, according to a study released this month by the Employment Policy Foundation. And women on average still make just 75% of what all men make." One over-thirty-five woman who plans to have children and possibly take a few years off stated, ""These days, I don't see why you can't have everything you want." Contradicting that viewpoint though, the article ends with this fact: "Anita Hattiangadi, an economist at the Employment Policy Foundation, said, however, that pay disparities simply reflect the market at work. Women -- or men -- who leave the work force, for whatever reasons, end up making less than people who stay on the job."
Most childfree workers would agree with that last fact, and one even said, "All choices in life require something to be sacrificed to gain the other. Being a parent, as we all know, entails an enormous set of sacrifices. One of which (for the primary caregiver anyway) is career advancement and pay."
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