A new study has found it would cost nearly €55,000 to employ someone to carry out the work of a stay-at-home parent.
The research from insurance and pension provider Royal London Ireland also found most people severely underestimate the value of the role.
The average salary estimation to come back from the survey was around €30,500 – with less than one-in-ten people estimating it at over €50,000.
Women currently make up 90% of all full-time parents in Ireland.
On Newstalk Breakfast, parenting expert and journalist Jen Hogan said stay-at-home parents should be paid.
“We need to appreciate the huge work that stay-at-home parents do and it is a huge amount of work,” she said.
“I wonder how many more dads might consider becoming stay-at-home parents if there was a financial reward.
“Instead, it’s typically women who have to make that sacrifice and stay at home with their children. It might lead to more equality if there was a monetary award for it.”
Underappreciated
Ms Hogan said the work of parents often goes underappreciated.
“You don’t get a cent if you choose to stay home and rear your children,” she said.
“We might have a little bit more equality in the workforce, we might have a little less of a problem around the gender pay gap and we might have some women who devote more time to their careers.
“But instead, it’s still 90% of stay-at-home parents who are women, which is not that much of a surprise.”
Ms Hogan said women can be affected over the long term by the difficulties of being a stay-at-home parent.
“When you look at the work that is involved in being a stay-at-home parent, it’s huge," she said.
“It's a huge sacrifice. There are long-term impacts on women who come out of the workforce and do it.
"They don’t have their own pay or that level of independence because they are taking care of children.”
Society
Ms Hogan said some people are turned off becoming parents due to the associated high costs.
“The cost of childcare is something that means an awful lot of parents are having to make the decision of whether or not to have children at all,” she said.
“We need to facilitate people to look after their children themselves at home if they so choose.
“Taking care of children is good for society and I think that’s something we need and something that we forget an awful lot."
Ms Hogan added that the “impending pension crisis” means Ireland will need to look at encouraging more people to have babies to support older generations.
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Main Image: A stay-at-home dad holding his son. Credit: Folio Images / Alamy Stock Photo
