Archbishop Paul Cremona insisted today that in a society where couples juggled jobs, children should not be left with ‘leftover time’.

Speaking at a seminar on the work and family balance, Mgr Cremona said family stability was of paramount importance for children. While everybody rightly spoke on the importance of employment, family stability was also good for the economy.

In the past couples used to have two jobs – one went out to work and the other worked at home. They then shared the family responsibilities. Now they had three jobs – they each went out to work and then there was the work at home to be done. That was only leaving ‘left-over’ time for the children

In the past one used to say that one worked to make a living. Then many gradually some started saying they lived to work. Now, it seemed, a new phase was coming in – working to have more money to spend. This was an area which needed to be discussed further. Caritas, for example, had started a group to promote better management of the family’s budget.

Mgr Cremona pointed out that 37 percent of women now had a job. Which meant that 63% were staying at home.

This was a choice “which he would not go into,” Mgr Cremona said. But how free was this choice when no one was thinking of those women who might have had careers achieved with much sacrifice and which they then had to leave? Shouldn’t the contribution of these women also be recognised?

Would those who opted to care for their family without taking an outside job receive any remuneration?