Subscribe Via RSSExpert Warns Stay-at-home Mothers Face Prejudice
I would say that bringing up children is the most important job there is, yet according to Dr Aric Sigman, there is a growing prejudice against stay-at-home mothers.
- Dr Aric Sigman, who has four children, is a leading child development expert and fellow of the Society of Biology and associate fellow of the British Psychological Society.
Apparently, stay-at-home mothers are facing an increasingly vicious backlash by those who think they are lazy, stupid and unattractive.
At an event organised by the Mothers At Home Matter group, Dr Aric Sigman said these derogatory attitudes towards women at home should be treated as seriously as racism and sexism.
He told the conference that the rise of prejudice had helped make it socially unacceptable to argue that children benefit from “full-time” parenting and added that evidence from biosciences showed that mothers provided unrivalled benefits to young children that other people, including fathers, could not.
Dr Sigman said, “You should take on motherism – the prejudice against stay-at-home mothers – a prejudice that expresses itself in derogatory cliches like: You gain a baby and lose a brain, and comments that refer to school-gate mother mentality, or to being, willingly self-lobotomised.”
“The implication is that by being a full-time mother you are subjugated and servile and even sexually unattractive once you are a mother – a quality only associated with women who return to work with their high heels and clipboards.”
Dr Sigman added: “Motherhood must not hide its light under a bushel. Greater maternal contact in the early years, especially during infancy, is greatly advantageous to the child.”
“Society must be asked why this could possibly be construed as contentious.”
He said that the derogatory attitudes towards stay-at-home mothers appeared to be the result of a political and economic agenda.
Sally Goddard Blythe, an expert in child development at the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, agreed. She said, “We are the only mammal that deliberately separates its young from its mother for economic and social reasons before it is physically able to fend for itself.”
I am proud to say that I was able to support my wife so that she could have a year off on maternity leave with our son, and then only have to work part time so as to be able to spent quality time bringing up our children.