I don't know what country you're from (I don't want to assume), but as an American (and if it matters, a man without a child), I'd say that a big issue at play is the work environment. The expectation here seems to be that a salaried employee is either expected to work an arbitrarily large amount of time or that they'll be on call all the time for "important" (but in reality not terribly pressing issues). Vacation time in the US is pretty pitiful compared to European standards, and many people don't even use the vacation they have due to a fear of looking weak or not being a team player. Since salaries have stagnated, it makes it quite a bit more difficult to raise a family without both parents working (but maybe this is really an issue of consumerism).