What comes to your mind when you first hear the word “housewife”?
Let me guess! Your answer must be:
A woman who does “odd,” “routine,” and “mundane” jobs. To be more precise, a woman who is a good-for-nothing. Or hey, do you get reminded of phrases like “Hot Indian Housewife”? (Let’s not get into that)
Housewife and Unappreciated Word
Certainly, jobs like taking care of the children and running the entire household chores that totally depend a house wife to function properly, cannot be considered something worthwhile. After all, who gives a damn about dish-washing and the daily laundry?
The reason behind this is that what she does for “work” is not paid for by anyone. And thus, what she considers “work” does not qualify in strict terms to be labeled as an economic activity especially due to the in laws.
Since the world in which we reside has become entirely materialistic today (or maybe it was so right from the beginning), it pays heed to only those jobs that directly influence or contribute to the national economy.
But hold on! Does that mean homemakers don’t deserve any respect for the work they do? Has it ever occurred to you how your family runs so smoothly with everything being taken care of?
Of course, I am not saying that there aren’t any exceptions. But, needless to say, today, in most Indian families, the scenario is much the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGk0_AC00cc
1. Are Housewives Taken for Granted?
A man takes his wife for granted as he is the sole breadwinner among the family members and hence the only ‘head’ or rather the only person who gets to have any say in all the important matters concerning the family.
The wife’s opinion is mercilessly suppressed and disrespected, and her feelings are least cared about.
Why should it be so? We should never disrespect unpaid work. If she receives the minimum recognition and appreciation for the effort that she puts into her housework she will certainly have nothing to complain about. Because don’t forget:
A Housewife is as much an important part of our nation as a working man.
2. Working Women
On the other hand, there lies a different problem with the idea of “working women” or even a working wife. Take the recent “textbook controversy,” for instance.
For the last couple of days, The Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Had it not been for Soumya Garg, a 24-year-old teacher who moved to the State Women’s Commission, questioning the content of the social science textbook prescribed by the Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education, the young minds of Chhattisgarh would have to take the pain of grasping this illogical point:
“Working Women Are One of The Causes of Unemployment.”
Could the words of the author of a class 10 Social Science textbook be more saddening than this? And to top it all, what is even more saddening is the board’s approval of such ridiculously baseless content.
The author has taken into account that all the country’s rising issues, such as unemployment, poverty, and unequal wealth distribution, are only concerned with men.
Who knows? Probably his teacher might have taught him that our national population consists of men only. After all, it is all about the education that we receive, we’re unfortunately not always the own boss of our mindset.
We also notice that many women work after they get home from work too after all the work stress in their full-time job, and the problem with this is society glories this to an extent that men and women think this is how things should work and these are the duties of a ‘good wife.
Conclusion
The point is, who should decide whether a woman should work or not? Is it not her fundamental right to choose what she wants to be?
And when she finally decides whether she wants to be a career woman or a housewife, society all of a sudden becomes judgmental.
Many women, especially Indian women need a better life, it’s high time that one should start changing their mindset and stop acting like ancient men and women in the so-called modern world .
There are so many things we need to normalize yet in the so-called progressive society, for instance sharing household work equally.
Women today are well educated and have all the capabilities and talents to be the sole bread earners of the family and if a man chooses to be a house husband we do not have a problem with that.
-edited by Steffy Michael|26/7/22
Last Updated on by Laveleena Sharma
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