It doesn't cut both ways. It may be socially acceptable to stay home with your children for 2 years, but it isn't career-acceptable. Read the thread: women are penalized for returning to the workforce.
If a man took 2 years off, wouldn't his career also be harmed? I'm not saying it doesn't set a woman's career back to take time off. But women's lives are generally lived differently from that of men. There are good points and bad points to each side of that equation. And time taken off by a woman to stay home with kids is generally viewed more favorably than a lot of other reasons one might drop out of the work scene for a time. (Generally speaking, only going back to school is likely to improve your career after you go back.)
Going back to the original topic, I think that being active in FOSS, even at low levels @ a couple hours a week, is a good way to keep evidence of some skillset. This should hopefully help getting back into the workforce.
I would think so -- If you can figure out how to effectively put it on your resume.
I did lots and lots of volunteer work while I was a homemaker. I have a great many accomplishments to my name. But I have a lot of difficulty figuring out how to package it so it is taken seriously in a work environment. I am reminded of a comment made somewhere on HN about a member here volunteering on a project and not getting taken seriously because they were unpaid and saying they will never do that again because being unpaid so badly hurt their credibility.
