Housewife vs. Working Women

the workplace and stating women need the only change, it creates greater opposition. It is also a

Before World War II, women were expected to get married, raise kids, do housework, and obey their husbands. This all changed when World War II came around. The men were busy at war, so someone had to take over their jobs. The government considered having children across the country fill in, but society chose the women to do it instead. The government depicted work only as a necessity, only temporarily, not as a way to change a women’s rights or freedom.

Women for years have been automatically given the role of the domestic housewife, where their only job is to cook, clean, and take care of the children. Men have usually taken the primary responsibility for economic support and contact with the rest of society, while women have traditionally taken the role of providing love, nurturing, emotional support, and maintenance of the home. However, in today’s society women over the age of sixteen work outside of the home, and there are more single parent households that are headed by women than at any other time in the history of the United States (Thompson 301.)

“The Importance of Work” is an essay from The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan. The whole essay talks about how humans can contribute to the society with their full capacities through work and that women should hold jobs equivalent to men. Friedan insists that men and women need work that satisfies their creativity and contributes to human society. Today, doing paid work is a necessity because it helps us get through the day wether for our needs or our pleasures. The money earned from work supports the whole family. According to Mrs. Olive Schreiner, “if women did not win back their right to a full share of honored and useful work, women’s mind and muscle would weaken in a parasitic state; her offspring, male and female would weaken progressively, and civilization itself would deteriorate.” (Friedan 8) I strongly agree with this statement. I believe that the work ethic of most generations are influenced by parents. It is obvious that we look up to our parents. If the parents do not show any desire to work, their children will copy them and will not contribute to society. If a mother who is a stay-at-home mother or has a different job does not work hard or does not show any work ethic, her children will look up to her and follow her footsteps and eventually “civilization would deteriorate.” (Friedan 8)

In addition to women becoming a housewife there has been a “direct denunciation”(Doc B Sheg) because they are becoming disrespectful towards their husbands. This is because with them learning about earning their rights they tend to fight for themselves, which just ruins the mindset of how good it is to be a housewife. When the “more fortunate women”(Doc B Sheg) help with the “round of toil”(Doc B Sheg) women they feel as though it will bring them “respect and consideration which form the basis upon, which we more fortunate women build our lives.” (Doc B Sheg) Within this need to become grateful for having such an easy life to the point that they become lazy, all of the other women that need to actually work to make a living can clearly see that it is not as luxurious to have certain rights because then that requires harder

This was because they were expected to be seen as the motherly figure in the household and they were presumed to be the ones to take care of the children. The women who were in the working force during this time worked in any industry available. It was very rare to have women working before the first World War, and those who worked did so to provide and support their family. Certain jobs, such as in the government, were not open to women because they were considered to be appropriate for men only.

In her interviews with woman she was sure to interview very well educated women and those that strived for mere perfection. One thing is that the men in the lives of these women were not supportive and not mentioned of much. The men and society of today have placed a lot of responsibility on a woman’s shoulders when it comes to the child. It is the woman who makes the decision or is given the task to make the heavy decisions regarding the child’s future. Because of this many women choose to stay at home to be sure that the children will receive everything that they deserve and that they are not lacking in any area. Another issue that she reviews is that employers do not work with moms at all. For example she talked about the scenario where two moms brought a solution to their problem to management yet it failed to receive approval instead one mother was offered more money (Guest, 2011). Employers are not very flexible when it comes to mothers and don’t provide the proper care that is needed for a child. Since men are the ones that don’t carry the responsibility of the child’s well-being having proper day care is not a factor for them. Then there is the cost of day care which is high and can at times not compare to what the individual is making.

Before the war women had to fit into a stereotype of “the perfect family” (“A Change in”). Prior to 1941 only 30% of women worked for 10 years and only 50% worked for 5 years (Discovery Education). Women were encouraged not to work, because it broke “the perfect family” stereotype (“The Women of”) (“A Change in”). Even husbands did not want their

In media, women have always been depicted as housewives or homemakers. In commercials, they are always the ones cleaning, cooking, or in some way taking care of children. If you are watching a cleaning commercial, there is always a child making a mess, a father that doesn’t know how to clean it, and a mother who comes to the rescue and cleans it. The ideal that women are the “weaker” sex has always been popular. Women are meant to tend to the household, husband, and children. During the time of the American Revolution, when slavery was still taking place, women started sharing their opinions of being homemakers. Then, the Industrial Revolution had come, and women began working in certain areas. As women continued to fight for their

Once women began working at the beginning of the twentieth century due to the war, gender roles drastically changed within households. The world was used to women spending time on housework versus men so it was an adjustment for everyone. In all actuality, when husbands take on a greater role in the house, it will result in lower divorce rates in the long run. Studies show that although this change

It caused the economy to go down as close as the bottom. Thus, women who made up half of the population were no longer ignored. They were able to work, and therefore, helped to improve the economy. Even though women are able to work, they are excluded from most of benefits provided by their employers since most of those jobs are part-time and temporary. Not only do they not receive benefits like permanent employees, they are easily to get fire as well. These types of jobs have little regulations for female employees. Nevertheless, female full-time workers are no better than those part-timers. The author of Under The Bus and a labor law practiced person, Fredrickson admitted that those labor laws abandoned numbers of women. They do not get either paid or unpaid family leave, or even overtime benefits. They only receive limit paid sick leave and healthcare from their jobs. Some employers even drop the working hours in order to not giving out these benefits. The worse treatment that women suffer in addition to the above disadvantages is that they are obliged to go to work immediately after they give birth to their children. This is extremely ridiculous. It shows that employers do not concern about their employees’ health at all. Imagined how tiring it is to give birth and how much the newly born children need their mothers for feeding or taking care especially in poor families that could not even afford for nannies (2015). As a result, the labor laws that established to protect employees did not include women at all. Thus women still have limit access to those benefits that they supposed to get. Forcing women to work without thinking about providing those protections or advantages would not only affect their work performance, it also affects their family

In the reading, “From the Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home”, Hochschild explains her experience conducting a case study with a series of different women to get their perceptions of their lives as mothers, but also working women. Moreover, she provides good information to start her study. She reports that in 1950, 30 percent of American women were in the labor force, 28 percent of married women with children worked out of home. Today, those numbers have dramatically increased. During her findings, she saw that women felt a responsibility to be able to balance work and life at home, focused more on children, and expressing how overworked or tired they felt. Whereas men in this study expressed that women did most of the work around the house and childcare. In addition, what stood out to me in this reading was that some men felt pleased that their wives received more income than them. For instance, in an interview a man expressed, “was more pleased than threatened by her

Due to these beliefs women are marrying later, having fewer children and divorcing more often. Men use to except that their careers would be more important than their wives’ and that they would do less child care, and because of these conflicting attitudes, women sometimes feel unable to work even if they want to. Also according to Stuart Sidle “the husbands work load had a strong influence on decisions to leave the workforce with women with husbands working over 45 hours per week having a greater likelihood of leaving the workforce than women with husbands who worked between 35-45 hours per week

Women are able to contribute to society in more ways than by just being a mother. Meier, Musick, Flood & Dunifon (2016) mentions “maternal employment may provide a source of identity, self-worth, and welcome relief from daily care, potentially gener- ating greater appreciation and enjoyment in time with children” (p. 651, para. 2). Whether a mother wants to work or has to work to provide for her family, the extra income is beneficial to the child. When both parents work, it may mean that there is more disposable income which could allow for more family vacations and activities. Dual income families may also be able to afford a nicer home in a better school district. More income could also mean both parents may qualify for additional work benefits such as contributions towards 401K, medical benefits and child care tax savings. Childcare is not only beneficial for mother but for the child. Children learn social skills, have fun playing and learn from their teachers and other children. Having separation during the day can also make a child more independent and self-sufficient as they get older. Mothers who continue to work after having children will often have more career opportunities and are able to earn more money in the long run. Working moms may also teach children the importance of gender equality and show them that women can also focus on careers.

A major advantage of being a working mother is the income that she brings into her home. The more money that is brought into the home, the more the family can do and have. Let’s look at a certain situation: a family of four with two working parents. With two incomes coming into the household, there is more financial room to spend money on what they may please. The family can have a nicer home, cars, and clothes. Let’s not forget vacations. With more income coming into the household the family may be able to afford to go on extravagant vacations, or maybe can vacation more often. Another perk with the income of a working mother is that her family will never have to worry about not having anyone to watch her children. Instead of paying a babysitter or dropping the kids off at mom and dads the family has the option of putting the children in daycare, or even hiring their own nanny to watch the kids while the parents work. However, more family income isn’t the only perk of being a working mom.