What About the Sons? Brigid Schulte on Caregiving and Gender

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Working Daughter

Society & Culture


Brigid Schulte is the Director of the Better Life Lab at New America. She is also  a journalist and best-selling author. On today’s episode, Brigid sheds light on the millions of me who are caretakers,  the differences in how men and women approach care, and thoughts on working sons dealing with elder care.   Key Takeaways: [1:25] Women do about twice the amount of childcare than men are. They are still seen as the primary caregiver. [3:50] More men are doing more hands-on care for their elderly parents as well as handling more of their parents’ finances. [6:15] When men go into nursing fields, they also get paid more money than their female counterparts. [9:45] Even men see the definition of the word ‘caregiving’ completely differently compared to women. [14:15] Our demographics have completely changed over the years. There is no one within the family that’s living full time at home to care for the parents. People are working and they’ve got active lives. [17:00] By changing policy and by making it more acceptable for men to be dads or to take leave from work to focus on family life, will our society and gender equality improve as a whole? [20:35] We haven’t really figured out a way to measure what is good and effective work. [27:25] What other barriers are men faced with when giving care? [33:00] The Working Daughter book is now available for pre-order!   Mentioned in This Episode: Brigidschulte.com Newamerica.org/better-life-lab The Working Daughter book