Originally Posted By: Mary Kittie
Originally Posted By: Magesteff
Certainly they can change diapers, wash the baby, feed the baby and carry it around as well as a woman can.


But really in this game are the women even doing that?


Yes, I have seen the activity be "changing baby's diaper" (or similar wording) for her activity.

All I am bringing up is how over the other three VV games this was one area that seemed to get attention and a request that the parenting duties in the first two years of the baby's life when it has to be carried around be split between the the parents/genders so that the females were not all hit with the responsibility for early child care. I'm saying this was a request that has been ignored.

Gender equality in work and earning potential and career advancement is a hot button topic with many people. It has been a topic of request that this be addressed in the games - when they ask what we would like to see, one of the suggestions is something to help the women still be able to advance when carrying a child for that two year infancy. That request has been ignored. If it can't be divided between men and women equally with a single child, it sould be nice if there was at least a 50-50 chance of the father having to carry the child around for two years instead of defaulting to the mother automatically.

Originally Posted By: Bethlham

Also, check the happiness meter...while carrying the baby my VF mother has stayed elated. So...she is happy. We talk about social reflections in the game as though they are negative. The family is happy...I am confused that career and monetary gain seems to be so prioritized by some players. And some say that if the mother is not achieving this it is somehow wrong. Why?


The father is elated as well. I am saying that in this day and age, both parents are taking responsibility for child rearing in the early infancy. When the designers asked for suggestions for the games, it was listed as a request for this after seeing the effect it had in the first game.

Why this matters to some players? You may have never had to face gender discrimination, if so, I am happy for you. But I not only grew up during the 70's watching women fight to be able to do some jobs. Watched while people called women who wanted to excell in a career all kinds of nasty names. Was denied jobs because I was a woman in my own life at least twice because I was a woman.

Again I am saying that the developers have ignored a request that was made as far back as VV2 to split the child care duties between parents so both could achieve equally.

Its a steryotype that is being perpetuated. That women take care of the infant children, and the men do not. That the woman has to give up career advancement while the men do not.

Yes, it is a game, but as this is an issue that was brought to the designers attention many years ago, it would have been nice if they included it into the game design for once.