MARGARETTA D'ARCY,
Madam, - If Louise O'Reilly (December 3rd) believes women's informal work cannot be regarded as "beneficial to the economy or the State as a whole", it is only because the Government has persistently failed to implement the platform action agreed in Beijing at the UN International Women's Conference in 1995, as well as its own Partnership 2000.
In both these cases there was a clear commitment to measure and value unwaged work in the home, on the land, in business, and in community and voluntary sectors - a commitment that has been wilfully ignored.
Ark Insurance has stated that women's work in the home is alone worth more than €550 a week. If the Government paid a fair wage for it, it could deduct taxes in the usual way. I am sure many women would be delighted to pay taxes to get themselves out of any dependency relationship with husbands or partners.
Unwaged caring work is the bedrock of our society; it is a national scandal that a Government should allow the myth to be perpetuated that such work is of no benefit to the nation, and that the women who perform it are allowed no recognition - not even a pension in their own right, a medical card or free access to adult education. - Yours, etc.,
MARGARETTA D'ARCY, St Bridget's Place Lower, Galway.
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Madam, - Perhaps I should have clarified my situation for the benefit of Una Uí Scoldaidhe (December 5th). I am a working mother who would never entertain the idea of asking anyone to "look after my brood for little or no money". I expect to be paid a fair wage for my day's work and believe that childcare workers deserve no less from their employers.
"Choosing" to stay in the home and raise your family is of course a valid choice, but it is obviously unfair to expect working mothers to finance it. - Is mise,
LOUISE O'REILLY, Downpatrick Road, Dublin 12.