Ay-ay-ay.... Ok, Smallife: Here's the thing. We would all love to get time off for the things you mentioned. Men and women, parents and non-parents are all candidates for having pets that need to go to the vet, we all could be writers in need of a year sebatical, we all could be interested in travel or going back to school, or any number of activities that would require time off work, flexible schedules, understanding bosses, etc. In some companies those things are allowed and in some not. I feel like a dummy for stating the obvious here but in those areas men, women, parents, non-parents have the same potential needs. What's the ONE thing that can't be delegated to a man, or a non-parent? Answer: getting pregnant, giving birth, breastfeeding, waking up in the middle of the night to pop a boob in a kid's mouth. And that just happens to be ONE thing that humanity can't really do without. I don't mean because we need population growth - we don't. But we also can't just stop having kids all together, can we? I'm not sure it's even worth arguing about. It's just BI-freaking-OLOGY :) And no, I'm not a slave to my animal urges. I just have one kid and am strongly considering adoption.
And your claim that parents are already accommodated enough and the poor suckers who are stuck at work have to pick up the slack?!?! Seriously, I'm trying to keep it together! I remember when my bosses would have endless lunch meetings about nothing in particular and the rest of us had to stay late to meet deadlines (yes, parents and non-parents). If you think parents have it good at work, it's really because you haven't been one. Parenting is not only not accommodated at work in the US, it is hindered. Nobody is saying they should have an advantage for being parents, just that policies should be in place to make it a little more even - it's not even close now, in the country as a whole. Your argument is sort of like saying that a handicapped person shouldn't get to park in the spot closest to the door. I mean it's his fault if he chose to go skiing and broke his legs! Or maybe it's ok just for the person who was born handicapped. Should they not get 'special' treatment to compensate for something more difficult?
How come all the other developed and progressive countries in the world have policies to accommodate parents? Are they doing it wrong? Why don't they complain about the unfairness of it all? I'm not saying pity the parents. Actually, I think parents are very lucky people. What I am saying - and what this whole thing was all about - is that if you want women to be able to close the gap at work you have to make it feasible to have a career and have kids. Otherwise there will always be an income gap, always be less women in certain industries, and always women in lower-level positions. And if you want men to have the choice to stay home with their kids, what better way than making sure their spouses have the potential to earn as much money as them - so it's not all on their shoulders? That's all I'm saying. If we don't care about those things I guess we can just say it's the price of having kids. I suppose you think that's 'fair' since having kids is a choice. So be it.