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My wife does both at the same time. Two days every week, she works from home. I prefer her working from home, because then she can walk the dog on her lunch break. Otherwise, I have to drive all the way home from my job on my lunch break to walk the dog. We used to pay someone to walk our dog on days when my wife and I both worked outside of the house, but one day he came to walk her while my oldest daughter was home from college. She was in the basement, and he didn’t know it. According to her, he was walking all over our house, including on the second floor where he didn’t need to go, for about ten minutes, before walking our dog for maybe five minutes. He never knew that she was in the basement. She could just hear him walking all around the house. So I emailed him that night and told him we wouldn’t need his services anymore. I’ve always felt weird about letting people into our house when we’re not there, so we’re not going to get another dog walker. I can make it home and back from work on my lunch break, when I need to. It just means that I have to eat my lunch while I’m driving. Anyway, back to the question: **Should women stay at home or go out to work?** Both. If they can work from home, it’s really convenient for everyone involved.

I have worked since I was 14 and got my first Saturday job. I worked and went to school. I worked and went to university. I worked and had a social life. I worked and was a wife. And then I worked and was a mother. I work AND I take care of my children. The idea that I am somehow neglecting my children because I work is, honestly, offensive. And sexist, too - a father would never be told he isn't taking care of his kids because he's working. *Quite the opposite.* Moreover, in my society I am *expected* to work. As a widowed single parent with kids of school age, if I became unemployed and sought state benefits, I would be deemed “fit for work” and receive Jobseeker's Allowance at £72.40 a week. I would have to be able to prove that I was actively seeking work. I would be assigned a “work coach”. If I failed to apply for enough jobs, failed to get interviews, or missed appointments I would be sanctioned (benefits stopped for 4 weeks). I would be obliged to take any job the work coach deemed fit for me, whether or not it fit around my children’s needs, and I would be obliged to attend any courses/workfare/voluntary work they decided to assign me. Not working is not an option. If a family is well off enough that one parent need not work, and either parent *wants* to stay home with the kids, that's great. Go for it. But if either parent doesn't want to stay home, or *they don't even have that option*, they are not failing to take care of their children.