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January 20 2016

When The Rewards Of Motherhood Mean Cash Payments

One News Now
Carrie L. Lukas

Discussions over a universal basic income have led to a difference of opinion among women.

A universal basic income (UBI) is a government-distributed income granted to all on an individual basis.

The idea is not new, as The New York Times and other publications point out the Finnish government has proposed paying every adult the equivalent of around $870 a month. Meanwhile, the Swiss will vote on a referendum for a basic income this year, and Canada's Liberal Party has adopted a resolution calling for a similar experiment.

In an op-ed titled “It's Payback Time For Women,” Judith Schulevitz, contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, says the feminist argument for a UBI in the United States is that it's a way to reimburse mothers and other caregivers for the "heaving lifting" they now do free of charge while being viewed by some people as not really working.

Carrie Lukas, managing director of the Independent Women's Forum, tells OneNewsNow that this is an ongoing argument from feminists and liberals who want to raise taxes and grow government.

"Some fairly conservative and libertarian economists have argued that this would be one way to entirely replace our current welfare, social safety-net system,” she says. “That's kind of an interesting conversation.

"The problem is that in the process of doing this or talking about this idea, the feminist writer Schulevitz made it into this idea that 'the reason to do this is because women are unpaid and it's payback time for women.'"

Lukas says that's a silly distraction that focuses on a non-issue. "It overlooks how families are set up and how stay-at-home moms are compensated and do have access to money,” she says, adding: “Stay-at-home moms are not being mistreated by our society."

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