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Something we can all relate to ...

Started by Postscript, April 14, 2010, 03:18:24 PM

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Postscript

This article in the Sydney Daily Telegraph has been raising the ire of women all over the Southern Hemisphere:

http://www.news.com.au/business/business-smarts/our-working-mothers-are-living-on-easy-street/story-e6frfm9r-1225853008152

"the reality is that for the past 40 years many of these working women have been perpetuating a hoax, pretending that running a household is still as hard as it was 40 years ago when Ms Greer and Co railed against the sheer drudgery of the tasks involved."

Basically she is saying that mother's who work outside the home are not working mothers, they are working women and that they are just pretending they do both jobs because labor saving devices have made the home maker part non existent and instead stay at home Moms are utilizing their time sitting on their backsides reading stories and focussing on nose wiping where as the mothers of yesteryear were too busy leaning over a copper to wipe their kids bottoms and the kids brought themselves up. 

Now I think she is dead wrong.  I worked from the time my eldest was 6 months old, I took a year off with my youngest.  It's not easy to work and run a house, to fit in grocery shopping, keep on top of the washing (even with a washer and dryer), plan and make meals, do general house work so on and so forth.  I know that when I was working during school holidays and my husband would take holidays with the kids, no dusting, vacuuming etc got done.  I was lucky if he threw some washing in the machine and didn't manage to shrink or dye it all pink!  It's also not easy staying at home with a baby, I may not have had an agitator machine or a copper but I spent plenty of time trudging between the machine and the line, I did scrub the floor on my hands and knees, I still do, and my kids played in the yard plenty.

In my opinion this reporter devalues women as a whole, whether or not we are mothers. 


cocobars

I've heard about this before.  Just in about the last 5 years or so.  There seems to be a huge divide between working mothers and stay at home mothers.  I don't understand it.  I see them as two different jobs.  They are still working...

I worked with a woman who was an outcast in her neighborhood because she worked.  The stay at home mother's saw her as selfish, for working to get the extra's she wanted to have for her family. 

Pen

Thanks for sharing the article. Those views pop up every now and then. Haven't there been attempts to pit one group against the other? I'm not sure that divide is as bad as the media makes it out to be...sometimes they just stir things up for the ratings.

Looking back, I don't know how I did it - two young ones, one of whom is special needs; special needs one in hospital off/on; two part-time jobs, equaling more than 1 full-time job; moving every 1.2 years; husband in college, working full-time and starting a business; me taking classes whenever I could; kids activities, therapy, school projects, etc. etc. Actually, I wrecked my body and have been paying for it for a few years now.

Respect ... is appreciation of the separateness of the other person, of the ways in which he or she is unique.
-- Annie Gottlieb

Hope

Pen, you have so much to be proud of and you and your dh worked hard for everything you have.  And from everything you write, it has also built good character in you.  I put a lot of weight in whatever you write.  Faster than a speeding bullet - Is that a bird, a plane, no it's superpen!
Hugs, Hope

1Glitterati

I'm not saying women don't work in the home today...but I do think things are different as far as how physically hard the work can be.  I also think they have a REAL point about how in the 40's, 50's, 60's that women who were staying home weren't spending the bulk of their time WITH their kids and interacting with them...but on chore type things.

My grandmother was a farm wife.  Grew crops, had chickens, pigs, geese, and cows.  Didn't have a washing machine or electricity.  Cooked on a wood stove.  Yes, she was home with the kids all day...but everyone was working--even the kids.

The advent of things like crockpots, dishwashers, microwaves, washer and dryers, etc. has made thinks easier than our predecessors had it.  Still...I loathe most things associated with housewifery.  I'm not dissing or looking down on anyone who likes it...I just don't and I haven't been able to make myself like things that relate to the actual physical upkeep of the inside of my house.  I would have sucked if I had lived during a time when that was most likely my only career option.

Postscript

I agree Glitterati that modern machinery has made our lives physically easier, both for sahm and working Moms.  But the washing still has to be washed, ironed, folded and hung.  The meals still have to be planned and prepped and frankly if mothers have gained some time thanks to modern tech, they've filled it with interacting more with their children.  Working in or out of the home, a mothers job is not easy.

1Glitterati

Quote from: Postscript on April 17, 2010, 03:29:11 PM
I agree Glitterati that modern machinery has made our lives physically easier, both for sahm and working Moms.  But the washing still has to be washed, ironed, folded and hung.  The meals still have to be planned and prepped and frankly if mothers have gained some time thanks to modern tech, they've filled it with interacting more with their children.  Working in or out of the home, a mothers job is not easy.

Very true.  I have to say...I'm pretty lucky.  My dh helps out with everything.  Which is the way I think it should be.  I can't tell you how many women I know who work outside the home and yet still shoulder most of the at home responsibilty.

Postscript

I'd be one and in truth I did it to myself.  My husband tries to help out but his housekeeping standards and mine differ.  You'd think after 20 years together he'd have adopted some at least some, of my standards but as far as housekeeping goes, he subscribes to the close enough is good enough way of thinking.  I go behind him re doing things to my standards and he's banned from washing my clothes after dying things and shrinking them.


1Glitterati

Quote from: Postscript on April 17, 2010, 03:39:15 PM
I'd be one and in truth I did it to myself.  My husband tries to help out but his housekeeping standards and mine differ.  You'd think after 20 years together he'd have adopted some at least some, of my standards but as far as housekeeping goes, he subscribes to the close enough is good enough way of thinking.  I go behind him re doing things to my standards and he's banned from washing my clothes after dying things and shrinking them.

;D  I'll have to say, my poor dh on this one.  His standards are way higher than mine.  Used to be anyway...he just gave in to my messiness after nearly a decade.