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More Whistling at Construction Sites

A report in England says girls are discouraged from pursuing non-traditional female jobs (e.g., construction). LINK. That's surprising. Back in our school days, we recall girls being pushed to non-traditional jobs all the time. Mrs. Scheske was one time prohibited (in a Catholic parochial school) from drawing a picture of a mommy when told to draw a picture of herself in her career (maybe she was supposed to draw something with a brass pole in it).

The last paragraph of the story, incidentally, tells us there is a renewed push for women to fill non-traditional jobs: "And, the report said, employers were now keen to recruit both men and women because of a national shortage of skilled workers."

Just to make sure we have this straight: We pushed women into the workforce during the twentieth century, culminating in a huge influx of working women in the 1970s and 1980s, which drove down the number of births, which then drove down the number of workers, which has now increased the need for women in the workforce. How does one get off this childless carousel?

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