Exploring the Parenthood Dilemma
BY URMILA UDHALIKAR/ OCTOBER 4 2023
The entire process of having children is expensive in terms of time, effort, and money. It involves a complicated interplay of individual ideals, circumstances, and preferences. Hence, it is important to be morally and financially able to create a caring and supportive space for the child.
e humans, on the whole, share the same powerful procreative drives that are encoded into animals. However, for some people today, this most basic of biological drives intersects with rational pessimism about the future. The more children we have, the less resources will be available for nourishing them, which makes having children a significant problem. A culture must be willing to cherish and love its children while avoiding serious adverse consequences like financial problems and climate change. People require accessible, high-quality education, higher wages, better working conditions, and universal healthcare in order to love and value families and children. Otherwise, it is just suffering and choosing between taking care of their kids and earning money to feed them.
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A culture must be willing to cherish and love its children while avoiding serious adverse consequences like financial problems and climate change.
Parenting is a significant financial, emotional, and physical investment. Food, clothing, medical costs, furniture, bedding, travel costs, books, toys, and school fees are all included in a child's expenses. It is necessary to have substantial resources and time to raise a child. Choosing to have children is a big decision with many practicalities, and the medical bills that follow can significantly impact their postpartum experience.
There are several expenses associated with being a parent. Every day, millions of babies are born, making this the most frequent cause of emergency room visits. The medical bills that follow these new parents home, however, can have a significant impact on their postpartum experience. Although there are many variables that might affect delivery prices, the average cost of a delivery in India is between INR 10,000 and INR 1,50,000. The cost of delivery in India will vary according to the delivery method you choose, the city you are in, and the hospital you select. The entire pregnancy and delivery process necessitates numerous doctor consultations. The consultation charge may add to the ultimate expense of not only the delivery but also the complete pregnancy journey. The city in which you have the delivery may also have an impact on the overall cost of the treatment. Even within the same city, not all healthcare organisations charge the same delivery fee. Most government hospitals offer free deliveries, however private hospitals may charge you all that from INR 70,000 to INR 150,000.
The final delivery costs are also influenced by the delivery method. A natural birth will probably be less expensive than a caesarean birth. The charges for delivery can also include the costs for the immediate care of the mother and child after delivery. Charges may increase from standard delivery if there are any issues during the post-delivery phase. As a result, having children comes with a lot of challenges.
Pictured: Illustration by unknown via Pinterest
Our population was just 1.6 in 1910, at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, it is 7.5 billion, and by 2050 , according to studies, it might exceed 10.3 billion.
Our population was just 1.6 billion in 1910, at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, it is 7.5 billion, and by 2050, according to studies, it might exceed 10.3 billion. The high birth rates are influenced by social, cultural, and economic factors as well as incentives and limitations. Although a decline in fertility is usually seen along with economic growth, it also suggests other simultaneous developments that affect fertility rates. There is often a trade-off between having more kids and ensuring their needs in economic models. The economist Gary Becker, who wrote about the economics of family, is credited with starting this subject of study. One of Becker's key themes is as simple as, for example there are six babies in your household who are sitting around you and are eager to learn how to paint. It is challenging for parents to devote their full attention to teaching any of these babies. Here, you've selected a larger number of kids, and as a result, none of them will really learn how to paint. The alternative scenario in this model calls for each family to have a relatively small number of kids, let's say only one. The ability of the parents to focus a significant portion of their time on raising that child is more compared to the parents with six children. These families have made the decision to have fewer, but in terms of economics, higher-quality children. It does not imply that the child has a higher moral worth, but rather that the family is able to invest more in the child.
This raises the issue of childcare facilities as well. A modern economy improves when more individuals join the workforce, pursue education, or acquire training to get better jobs. The biggest problem for many families is how to care for their children while their parents are at work or in school, and the private early care which is a private organisation that offers a sessional or full day care to children and education sector has failed to address this issue. The apparent gap in the private market is probably impeding economic expansion.
Pictured: Illustration by andrea wan via Pinterest
Investments in early child care and education can fuel economic growth immediately and over a long term as it enhances the income earning capacities and opportunities in future. Inadequate child care alternatives might make it difficult for parents who want to work, mothers frequently face the greatest difficulty in this regard. Child-rearing interferes with women's labour supply and employment outcomes more than men's. As women's labour force participation is closely connected with GDP growth, this results in unfulfilled economic growth.
When the brain is rapidly developing and especially receptive to the outside environment, high-quality early care and education offer crucial socialisation and learning opportunities.
When the brain is rapidly developing and especially receptive to the outside environment, high-quality early care and education offer crucial socialisation and learning opportunities. For the development of human capital, adequate finance is required. Greater public investment might boost child care availability and quality by fully supporting the subsidy programmes and allocating funds to state-level organisations that help providers qualify for subsidies. Child care employees must be supported in order to promote quality care and human capital development. Using public funds to promote increased pay will assist stabilise the child care workforce and ensure that these employees can afford to keep their positions.
The motherhood penalties, gender dynamics, shifts in the workforce, federal regulations, health crisis, and the moral requirements for raising a child are the root of the child care challenges.
The motherhood penalties, gender dynamics, shifts in the workforce, federal regulations, health crisis, and the moral requirements for raising a child are the root of the child care challenges. The gender gap has gotten greater as a result of the pandemic, with mothers specially suffering far more than men/fathers. Potential explanations for this include the additional weight of home tasks that Indian women have traditionally had to face, including not only household chores but also extra time required for elderly care and children's studies with schools closed. Mothers experience more discrimination than non-mothers do among women. Some employers regard the former as less qualified and devoted than the latter, and hold them to far higher professional standards. They typically make less money and are hired and promoted less frequently. This is called the Motherhood Penalty. It is crucial to refocus workplace norms towards gender equality in order to overcome the maternity penalty.
Employers still have the belief that women who return from maternity leave will be less productive. India now has a Maternity Benefit Act, however there isn't a comparable statute regarding paternity compensation. Paid maternity leave was expanded from 12 to 26 weeks by an amendment to the Act in 2017. Despite its good intentions, this sadly strengthens the idea that women should bear the bulk of the responsibility for caregiving, which increases the likelihood that they will face the motherhood penalty. To equalise gender roles and reduce employer bias, there should be a clear law ensuring paternity benefits.
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Social standards about a mother's position at home and at work have an impact on current fertility decisions. Social conventions from the past can contribute to low fertility. In Germany, for instance, it is still popular to refer to mothers who work full-time as Rabenmutters (bad mothers), which puts an implicit consequence on mothers who want to balance family and job. In Spain, for example, a country with a two-tier labour market in which positions are either temporary or permanent, women tend to delay children in order to secure a solid career first. In general, temporary work is more prevalent and difficult to find when unemployment is high. Even taking a short leave of absence to start a family can have long-term effects on women's employment chances. As a result, fertility rates may be lower than they would be in an environment where finding stable, long-term employment is simple. The long-term benefits of investing in gender equality will be significant for the economy and society.
Another concern is that, while raising a child in India with its dismantled educational system is expensive. Parents must set up additional funds in case tuition costs increase in future. Although inflation has reached uncomfortably high levels, experts argue that the cost of inflation does not adequately reflect the suffering caused by rising college costs. Economists claim that because the cost of expanding private education is only weighted at 4.5% in the Consumer Prices Index based on a model that is ten years old, the cost of inflation has not been completely captured by data on inflation. According to EduFund, between 2012 and 2020 the cost of education in India increased by about 10-12%. Periodic increases in not only the tuition fee but also the cost of transport and exams have an impact on parents' overall budget.
Pictured: Illustration by unknown via Pinterest
According to the American Psychological Association, couples with children experience higher stress related to money than couples without children.
According to the American Psychological Association, couples with children experience higher stress related to money than couples without children. People often fail to recognise the effort required to raise a child, ethically. Many people have become aware of what it takes to raise a child during the pandemic. The choice to not have children may seem selfish, but it is the strongest and most realistic choice that is still good despite many practical considerations. Choosing to have children when you are not capable both financially and morally of raising them is a natural crime against the species. In a more moral sense, one should have the emotional maturity needed to care for the child, and in a practical sense, parental leave, less expensive child care, and workplace flexibility can make it simpler.
Keywords
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Children, child care facilities, fertility, Gary Becker, economic growth, investment in child care, Women labour force participation
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References
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Tripathy, J. P., Shewade, H. D., Mishra, S., V. Kumar, A. M., & Harries, A. D. (2017, August 15). Cost of hospitalization for childbirth in India: how equitable it is in the post-NRHM era? PubMed Central (PMC).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5556367/
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Delivery Charges in India. (n.d.). Delivery Charges in India.
https://www.medifee.com/hospitals/delivery-charges/
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JC, A. (n.d.). The cost of raising a child in India: School costs ₹30 lakh, college a crore. The Economic Times.
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The child care economy - Equitable Growth. (2021, September 15). Equitable Growth.
https://equitablegrowth.org/research-paper/the-child-care-economy/
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The motherhood penalty that employers must eliminate. (2021, October 6). Mint.
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