Framing unpaid care work as a source of individual personal satisfaction conceals the fact that it is also a public good with immense social benefits. Children grow up to pay taxes, work for public services, support the older generation, repay public debt, keep society going. It is easy to see why there has been a reluctance to recognize the immense challenges and demands of maternal work. It makes it easy to pay less for it, or nothing. It makes it possible for men and employers to “free ride on voluntary contributions to the production and maintenance of human and social capital,” as the
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