Housewives' Club

If you paid someone to cook, clean, do your laundry, babysit the kids,taxi them all around town, mop, wash dishes, scrub toilets what would it all cost? ALOT! more then I would want to pay.
Some babysitters get $1.50-$2 an hour per child (I have 7 kids & 2 grandkids)
Taxi charge by the mile
not totally sure what all restuarants pay their dishwashers & cooks but $5.50-$9
I've never dropped off laundry at a laundrymat to have someone else do it but I know they charge a few $$$ for each load.

The point is, that when a woman stays home and does all these things for her own family, she is saving her family money. Only thing is that even tho hubby will pay $$ to a babysitter, he won't usually pay you $$ to stay home with the kids.

 

Lawmakers are finally getting around to recognising the economic contribution made by women who work at home. The invisibility of women's work in areas such as housework, home gardening or agriculture was one of the issues addressed at this year's Women's Day celebrations organised by the Ministry of Women's Affairs at the BMICH on March 8.

"It is important to recognise a woman's invisible work as her work is a family surviving strategy," said Prof. Savitri Goonesekera, committee member of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). "Often we make heavy burdens on them and policy-makers must provide support systems to combine a woman's role in and outside home." A country which records 92% literacy and 51% educated is still focused on the male breadwinner. This concept has to move out, bringing in also the concept of female breadwinner, she said.

With 2003 declared the Year of Employment, "Equal opportunity for women in all fields and at all levels of employment" was this year's theme for Women's Day.

Minister of Rural Economy and Deputy Minister of Finance Bandula Gunawardene, observed that "When domestic labour is done by a domestic, that contribution becomes a component of the national income, but not when a housewife does it."

A woman's multiple labour as housekeeper, chef, breadwinner, employer or employee, is a contribution which should be counted in the national income and supported to guarantee her future security.

Minister of Women's Affairs Amara Piyaseeli Ratnayake said that the Women's Charter would be empowered with legislation to transform it into a legal instrument, to enable the implementation of the principles and policies defined in the Charter and the "Kantha Diri Maga" action programme. She also added that special programmes for women will be lined up through Ministries of Samurdhi, Irrigation, Agriculture, Rural Development, Economic Affairs, Social Services and Education.

"We will work to have 25% women representatives in politics and more than 55% women in decision-making positions by appointing more women to head institutions," said the Minister. "The very fact that a woman is a mother and nurtures a family, deprives her of job opportunities in institutions chasing economic goals." "Despite increased social sensitivity, changes in social values and cultural norms, institutional reforms in the public sector, adoption of progressive policies and legal reforms, gender equity at workplace remains an unmet goal," said Dr. Wijaya Jayatilaka, Director, Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. "Compared to men, the unemployment rate in women is double," said Frank F. Niranjan, Senior Research Officer, Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy. "Unemployment is heavier among women with high educational qualifications which lowers their access to suitable jobs. For women with more than ten years of education, it is harder to find employment."

 

Yes, at least. In our area, most daycare centers charge a minimum of $75.00 a day, more for infants.


Your last post was excellent info, squakers!

Bree, thank you for your insight into a homemaker's life. Some people just don't get it. I remember when Bear and I were looking for the house we bought 12 years ago, I was only doing a few consultations, as I had three small children. When one of the realtors asked me "what I did" I told him and he replied (thinking he was being "funny") "Oh, you are a Bon Bon eater! Hahahahhahah!" If looks could kill, that man would have dropped dead. Bear replied "I don't beleive my wife has ever eaten a Bon Bon in her life." He decided we would never use that man for real estate again, and we got a new realtor the next day.

 

you know...as far as i see it, there's nothing wrong with being a homemaker. heck, taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, doing the shopping, etc, etc is a LOT of work.
however, there is something wrong with women basically being forced into thinking that they need to be a homemaker (or feeling guilty because they aren't one!)...in my family, my father was the stay-at-home dad because my mom made more money.
i wouldn't have it any other way.

besides, i hate doing laundry...

 

you are exactly right. and i would defiantly do it.... people that say they would get bored if they dont work- kinda make me wonder. i never get bored... well, not often- when i do, i find a hobby...read a book, cook a great meal, dance, etc.

 

I'm not a mother, but I am a stay at home wife (lol). I do take car of a handicapped man who lives at my house, though, so I do have a job. It think it's wonderful. I have a clean house, nice meals, and more time to develop my faith and my hobbies. But I realize for some people who don't have the option of working out of your home, that the money situation is SSSOOOOO tight that you can't live on just your husband or significant others salary. That's why I haven't quit my at home job yet. I make over $1500 a month at my job. After insurance, my husband only makes $800. But I am greatful I have an income source that allows me to stay at home and still make money. We both hate the green stuff, but unfortunately its necessary. My heart goes out to the women who want to stay home, but truly can't. And I'm happy for those women who work because they want to and not because they have to.