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Location: Home > News > Womans Weekly 'NZ Woman's Weekly' article.13 January 2003 edition
click here to see what was 'Cut' from my article: A Woman's Work...It's time to start appreciating the work that housewives do! That's the opinion of Hastings Woman Diana Henderson Economists tell us our work is of no economic value, feminists tell us that unless we have a paying job, we don't have value and we won't feel fulfilled. We are housewives and we deserve better! I find telling people I am a housewife tends to kill conversation so effectively that I am tempted to tell people, "I am a brain dead moron" to see if I get a better reaction. This isn't just my experience. I've talked to countless women who have told similar stories. A lady who has a five-month-old baby told me how she had mentioned to her sister-in-law that she was considering getting a job to help pay off the mortgage. Her sister-in-law said, "Well, it's about time you did something!" The implication being that as an "at home mother", she was doing nothing worthwhile. Another woman I know has two small children. Once or twice a year she helps out a friend with her catering business. Whenever somebody asks her what she does, she says she "works for a caterer". This way she gets more respect. I am exasperated with the way society looks down on housewives. Things have gone too far. It is time people realise the value of what they can contribute to their families as a "house spouse" Do you realise that while paying all your taxes, you effectively spend five months per year working for the taxman? As an employee, your employer needs you to generate approximately three times your wage to justify your job. By doing things for yourself cutting out the middleman, you will be amazed at how much your labour is really worth. I see too many families struggle with both partners working in the mistaken belief that this is the best way for them to get ahead when, often, they will actually be worse off financially by doing so. The fact is that usually more can be done to raise the family's standard of living by working at home as prosumers (a producer who consumes their own goods) than by working for somebody else and being consumers. Until we recognise this, the standard of living will continue to fall. Women's liberation has been great at advancing women's rights (and I commend them for that) but it has failed at getting society to value the work that women do in the home. Women's liberation was meant to allow women the choice to do as they wish -a choice I feel has been taken away in recent years. People who want to work at home often don't feel they can afford to. We now have the crazy situation of women rushing out to hold down a paid job while raising their family - leaving many women working longer hours than their counterparts who worked in sweatshops in bygone days. I know a number of women who would like to stay at home and not continue their "double burden". Everybody talks about childcare arrangements for the children of working mothers but few consider how many elderly folk miss out on time, care and attention from their children because they are too busy in their pursuit of the almighty consumer dollar to stop and see value in themselves. Society must learn to value, encourage and support women who work at home. Their contributions, although not easy to quantify are reflected in the state of our society our nation's health, wealth and happiness.
What NZ Woman’s Weekly 'Cut' from my article:While getting books from the library one day, a librarian inquired as to what I was writing. Her response to the idea of valuing the work people do from home, was one of utter scorn. "Who would want to be a ‘lowly’ housewife" was her attitude. I keep asking myself, why a ‘lowly’ housewife? This sort of attitude is why I spent 7 years researching and writing the book "Earn $50,000 per year as a House Spouse" in an effort to change this view. Women’s liberation has been great at advancing women’s rights (and I commend them for that) but they have failed at getting society to value the work that women do in the home "Earn $50,000 a year as a House Spouse", shows people how they can not only afford to raise their family on one income but will actually be better off doing so. It also aims to raise the status of housewives and house husbands so people that work cease to look down on us. I know a number of "working" women who would like to stay at home and not continue their "double burden" but their partners insist they have paid employment, being unaware of just how much can be gained by working from home. Women’s liberation was meant to liberate women, not force them to hold down a paying job just to be accepted and valued by the rest of society. I have not found a survey that looks at jobs a housewife is capable of doing and how valuable that contribution is worth other than the stereotypical household jobs that women do - cooking, cleaning and childcare. The ones that study these conclude that unless you take on the double burden of doing all normal household chores as well as holding down a paying job you will not be financially better off. Far more can be done from home than what these stereo typical surveys consider. Then there are the jobs that housewives used to do in the community, that those few remaining women who are brave enough to be housewives are now swamped with. Society has the attitude, that they are at home doing nothing worthwhile anyway so "why shouldn’t they do something useful for a change". I believe that variety is the spice of life and what job offers more variety than that of a House Spouse? With this in mind I have started a monthly newsletter called HouseSpice. To support and encourage HouseSpice in their endeavours. You can read and contribute to it via my website www.allwaze.com -free! (HouseSpice is what I consider should be the plural of a House Spouse – House-Wife or House-Husband. We have mice not mouses, hence Spice not Spouses!) Read the follow up article "A woman's work is never done" Read more interesting ideas from Diana Henderson in 'Homemaking Monthly' -Read Other HomeMaking News
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Copyright © 2004 - 2007 Diana
Henderson
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