Two recent studies of men in managerial positions seem to indicate that fathers in two-career families earn almost 25 per cent less than those from families where the mother stayed home.
Reasons for the difference were not apparent. The sole-breadwinners didn't work a significant amount more than their counterparts, although they were less likely to have to miss work to care for a sick child or engage in other child-care tasks.
One theory is that top executives tend to come from "traditional" home situations, and transfer their bias for that arrangement onto their employees.
Two-income families still enjoy higher total incomes, and the equity between mother and father counts for something as well. The study did not include families where the father was home full-time while the mother worked.
There's a bill before the U. S. Senate that will equalize the retirement savings potential of married couples with only one income.
At present, if only one spouse brings home a paycheck, a married couple is limited to a deductible IRA contribution of up to $2000 annually, plus only $250 for the homemakers retirement needs$2250 in total. Single income married couples saving that amount each year for thirty years will have $188,554 (assuming a 6% return).
The IRA Equity Bill (S287), written by Senators Huchison and Mikulski, would permit deductible IRA contributions of up to $2000 by spouses that work inside the home. This would give single-income families a total of $4000 per year, or $335,207 after thirty years, an increase of $146,653.
As of February 1, IRA Equity had 59 Senate sponsors and quite a few endorsing organizations, Full-Time Dads among them. You are urged to get in touch with your Senators and let them know how important this bill is to you, and that you would like to see additional legislation that will encourage and reward parents for staying home to care for their children.
Kids Against Junk Food gave special Hall Of Shame awards to food companies, advertisers and broadcasters who have tried to "force-feed" unhealthy foods to children.
The venue was the 10th Annual Harlan Page Hubbard Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. 12-year-old KAJF member Samm Tyroler-Cooper made the presentation of the Lifetime of Irresponsible Achievement Award. Especially singled out was an ad for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, which shows a boy playing roller-hockey better and being more popular after eating a sugar-laden breakfast.
KAJF offered the winners three challenges: To advertising agencies to use their talents and resources to create ads for healthy foods; to food companies to offer and promote healthier foods for kids; to TV stations to set aside more air time for public service announcements, and to produce kids shows with characters who are healthy eaters.
KAJF cited statistics on childhood obesity as the impetus for their awards. The efforts of a few companies to offer some healthy alternatives is not enough, they say, to outweigh kid's steady diet of junk-food commercials. One study cited by Tyroler-Cooper found that 95% of food ads on Saturday-morning television promote junk foods like sugary cereal, fast-food and candy.
Kids Against Junk Food is a national group of nutrition conscious kids and teens who work to improve kids diets through locally organized CHOW! Clubs. For more information, contact KAJF at: Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20009.