Parenting shouldn't be easy, and I never expected it to be easy. I fully expected it to completely change how I spend my time. That said, there are social supports women have access to in nearly every other developed country that women in the United States lack. That's an absolute travesty that should incite outrage. But instead, the response is, "Well you made a conscious decision to have children, so...." I spend far less time actually parenting than I'd like to and far more time finding childcare and figuring out how to pay for childcare -- a problem that has only gotten exponentially worse since Covid. If I hadn't spent $100,000 on childcare over the last 10 years (less than the average!) or spent PTO days and weekends touring childcare facilities with year-long waiting lists, or spent hours of my day shuttling my kids in the opposite direction of my job because there were no available or affordable options enroute, I would have had a lot more time and resources to actually be a parent! These are solvable problems, and they hold all women back.

As for the men, yes and... see my most recent story, "Where Are All the Dads?"