housewife: a married woman who is chiefly employed in the domestic sphere and usually does not accept paid work.
Is the role of housewife sexist? Well, it depends how you look at it.
I believe that all women have the right and responsibility to ensure that they are educated and employable, whether they pursue a career or not. I mean, it's all very well to put your feet up once you snatch a husband, but life isn't always a dream. Death and divorce and financial hardship happens. What if you get bored, or taken advantage of, etc.? That's why, no matter who or what you are or want to be, I maintain that all women have the right and the responsibility to ensure that they are educated for the modern world.
A career is a woman's choice, and I believe, as a feminist, that if it is a woman's choice to become a houswife than who are we, as feminists, to prevent her? But it must be a free and concrete choice and - dare I say - a choice that is not purely based on religion. Which is why I am happy to see the emergance of work insurance for stay at home mums, because houswives do not work any less than normal wives - or, at least, they shouldn't.
What I don't approve of is women becoming housewives because the HUSBAND says so, or the LORD says so, or because SOCIETY says so, or because anyone but THEM says so.
I don't see being a full-time mother as being particularly necessary - in fact, I observed that children who had been reared entirely at home had increased separation anxiety than those who attended childcare and kindergarten. My mother works full-time and my sister and I went to childcare, and we turned out just fine. Well, that's the general consensus, anyway.
A housewife is not some useless ninny who sits at home all day painting her nails and fixing her hair, waiting for her cashed-up husband to come home to supplement her crazy sex life with the butler. No. A housewife derives her occupation from running house and home and - and here is the cincher - contributes to society by taking as much paid or unpaid work as possible, without impeding on her original task as housewife.
What's also sad is that even though the number of employed women is on the rise, men still refuse to contribute to the domestic running of the household. If both mummy and daddy work than the household chores should be split 50/50, right? No. Statistics have shown that working women do roughly the same amount of women as their stay-at-home counterparts, and this does not change if their partners are employed or not. Shame on you, lazy husbands. Shame on you.
FYI, future husband who may be reading this: if you don't do the dishes I'll kick you to the curb :).
2 comments:
i beleive you have a typo, you wrote housewife instead of wife.
the man is the one who works hard using his larger than his partner sized brain and the wife should be home ready to massage his worn out feet and congratulate him on surviving another day in a world where women cant cope. our world
as much as I appreciate diverse opinions, I must disagree with you on this one.
In this modern day and age there are many different pathways that woman can take in being a wife. In this day and age it is every woman's right and responsibility to choose her occupation, whether it be in the workplace or in the home or a bit of both. As a feminist, I strongly stand up for every woman's right to choose what they want to be. When I am a wife, I intend to work, and expect my husband to contribute to the domestic running of the household, and I will not consider myself any less a wife.
There are gender differences in brain size, etc., but the idea that women are not as capable as men is ridiculous. Women can cope perfectly well in the workforce (my mother is a testament to that) and men can cope perfectly well in the domestic setting. Rigid gender roles enforce wrong ideas about the changing role of gender in society, and has the potential to feel both sexes feel inadequate.
I also feel that there is nothing less demanding about managing a house than working outside, and that both spouses should be there to support each other no matter what they do.
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