Attention of world media has been recently caught by Italian MEP in European parliament in Strasbourg.
The MEP, mother of a toddler girl, gained media’s attention by bringing her baby daughter to the parliament since she (the daughter) was six week old. The toddler sits in her lap, and as she grows, she started showing some interest in what her mother does, so she raises her hands during voting.
This action of Italian mother seem to collected only symphaties of people worldwide. You can check the story in Telegraph, Guardian or Daily Mail, or check You Tube video.
But is there a room for different opinion?
This example, in my opinion, just shows how big is the difference between political persons and mere mortals, and also shows the nature of their job.
First, how many mere mortals (and by mere mortal, I mean ordinary human beings who work from 9 to 5, if work at all, pay taxes and have to count carefully their salaries to make it through the month and save for vacation) would be allowed by their employers to bring their children to the work?
I don’t think there would be many ones. I for one, wouldn’t be allowed. I discussed it with my friends, and none of them works for an employer who would be so generous.
Ordinary people have to bring their children to kindergartens, to grandpas and grandmas, or to pay someone to watch after their child while they are at work.
But this Italian mother does not seem to have to worry about those issues – she can behave on her work like she was at home…
Second, even if my employer allowed me to bring my child to the work with me, could I do it with him in my lap? Certainly no! I don’t need my lap for my work, and maybe don’t need both hands all the time, but what I need is concentration. So, no chance I could do it with a toddler with me.
And I again discussed with my friends, and they say the same, they couldn’t do their job if their children were with them.
That shows how serious and how important is job of politicians, when they can do it with a toddler in their lap.
And how important the voting is, when a toddler can vote.
Certainly, there are some mothers or fathers who work from home and have their children circulating around all the time. But I highly suspect that they are paid as much as Italian mother this site is dediacted to, and certainly are not paid for the work they haven’t done.
If they missed a project deadline, because they had to feed their baby, they wouldn’t be paid, as simple as that; but somehow, I don’t think Italian mother’s salary was cut for hours she spent for her toddler while sitting in parliament instead for what she’s paid for.
And remember, her salary is actually earned not by her, but by those ordinary people who generate incomes; she (just like her fellow politicians) doesn’t generate anything, she just decides about something that she did not produce.
Think about it this way: if engine driver in Japanese train, or cattle feeder in Australian farm, or nurse in your local kindergarten, failed to appear in their jobs as scheduled, probably there would be some mess, smaller or bigger, and a number of people would be affected by their absence (including yourself in this last example).
But if this Italian mother failed to appear in European parliament, or any other politician in any other government body, would anyone feel the difference? I doubt.
Except her, that is; would so many people knew her name if it wasn’t for this incident? No. And I also suspect her salary would be affected by an absence, too – again unlike regular worker whose salary gets cut for any absence…
They say, her action was/is actually aiming to improve women’s employment rights and help the women who, as explained above, cannot bring their children to the work, but… have you seen any improvement since she started bringing her toddler in parliament?
I did a research on the internet, and failed to find any evidence of improvement.
And untill someone proves me wrong, I will argue that this is just another political marketing gimmick to earn some votes, and another vulgar display of power of our “leaders”.
Although I also suspect they will give a shit for my opinion… But that’s just in line with previous paragraph, isn’t it…