“I don’t work anymore, I’m a homemaker.”
If you do not feel something intrinsically wrong with that statement, then this one’s for you. The one class of people who make sure that that the life and work of those they live with goes glitch free, and at the same time work around the clock, 365 days a year just so the family gets all the attention it needs.
We need to learn the art of minding our own business. But, if we lack the capability to do so, we need to stop with the judging. To be a homemaker is a personal choice and it cannot be overlooked. If anything, it’s one of the toughest jobs and had there been monetary benefits proportional to the work they do, they’d have emerged as the category of people who have the highest paid jobs. Stop taking the people who make your life run efficiently for granted.
It’s the most unacknowledged job there is.
It offers no holidays, paid leaves or any such perks that working in a formal organization would carry. In fact, they are the ones who will have the additional onus of making your holidays enjoyable. While you chill and relax, they’d probably be slogging away, finding very little time for themselves amidst the holiday mood. What’s worse, you won’t even find it in your heart to say a word of thanks, because it’s what they do, right?
Homemakers are not anti-feminist betrayers of their race. Get over it.
Feminism emerged as a movement that supported a woman’s freedom of choice. The freedom to work or not, to change their last name after marriage or not, to do whatever the hell they want in their lives. It’s the idea of restriction that should bother you, not a woman’s personal choice to completely devote her time to her family. She decides her priorities, you don’t.
The hard work and efforts are twice as much as a day job.
I shouldn’t even have to explain this statement. They are the first to wake up, and they are also the ones who make sure that the rest of the family is on time. The packed tiffins, the ironed clothes, and packed bags don’t just magically appear. They happen to be the people at the backend who make sure that the entire system functions and functions well.
The performance pressure is unbelievable.
It disgusts me, the general acceptance of the fact that being a homemaker means walking into a spick and span household, with nothing out of place. There are a million little things all over the place that need to be taken care of – the bills, the laundry, the kitchen, the cleaning, the kids…so much! They are human beings who need to be at multiple places at the same time, unlike your well-rested ass on a chair.
Homemaking in itself is not gender specific, that’s just how you think.
And you need to stop it right away. When one of the two partners decide to be a stay – at – home wife or husband, and if it’s a fully conscious personal choice, nobody has the right to question that. As long as the decision has been made solely by those making it, the gender of the person has no role to play whatsoever.
People who make you their priority are not the ones you can take for granted. They are not there because they have nothing better to do, but because they have made a choice. It’s doing you nothing but good, so really, how can you judge?