any housewives out there?

fibonarchie · 12 August 2018 at 1:58PM

I was listening to a programme on the radio last night about housewives (or the history of being a housewife in Britain and how it's changed over the decades)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07kl9gk

Experts have done the sums, and it appears that if housewives were actually paid for what they do (namely, childcare, cleaning, etc) their annual salary would be in the region of £48k

I always found it interesting that when you pay someone to look after your children childcare is regarded as a job, but for those who take the trouble to look after their children themselves, people consider it a non-job and a cushy way of life. Same with cleaning. What would a cleaner get paid - £12 per hour or so? All done for free by the housewife.

It was an interesting programme, and sparked off several trains of discussion, - among them: should housewives be paid for what they do, and (more contentiously) has feminism made it difficult for women to make the choice to be a housewife these days. In fact the term 'housewife' itself is seen as a sort of a put-down, by many people.

Looking after the home and children is for many women (and doubtless some men) a rewarding job :beer: but obviously not one that everyone is cut out for.

Discuss

(By the way, wasn't sure whether to post this on here, the Old Style board or discussion time. Mods pls move the thread if it belongs somewhere else

)

JulieElizabeth · 12 August 2018 at 2:00PM

I'm not a housewife. I live alone. So who should be paying me for cleaning my own house?

fibonarchie · 12 August 2018 at 2:02PM

JulieElizabeth wrote: »

I'm not a housewife. I live alone. So who should be paying me for cleaning my own house?

Not relevant to you, then. Did you look at the thread title?

LilElvis · 12 August 2018 at 2:06PM

I'm a non-working wife and mother. Don't call myself a housewife though - I've never felt it necessary to give myself a pseudo working title.

ska_lover · 12 August 2018 at 2:08PM

fibonarchie wrote: »

Not relevant to you, then. Did you look at the thread title?

But it kind of is, because although you mention housewives being paid to clean their own houses...why would working people NOT be paid to clean their own houses/look after their own kids? Working for a living would become a waste of time (financially speaking) if you could stay at home and clean/look after kids, instead of working 12 hour days for a wage, then coming home to clean

If i could earn £12 an hour to stay home and clean and be a housewife....I am there :rotfl:

fibonarchie · 12 August 2018 at 2:13PM

ska_lover wrote: »

But it kind of is, because although you mention housewives being paid to clean their own houses...why would working people NOT be paid to clean their own houses/look after their own kids? Working for a living would become a waste of time (financially speaking) if you could stay at home and clean/look after kids, instead of working 12 hour days for a wage, then coming home to clean

If i could earn £12 an hour to stay home and clean and be a housewife....I am there :rotfl:

I think the term housewife implies making a conscious decision to stay home and look after your husband and bring up your children, instead of going out to purse a career of your own.

elsien · 12 August 2018 at 2:17PM

I listened to the programme as well. It reminded me of my grandmother who had to hide that she was married in order to keep her job as a teacher.
I was very surprised by the post-war housewives campaign against things like the NHS.
What struck me was the middle class element who had to stay at home because it reflected poorly on their husbands to have a working wife, and working class women who had no option but to work to survive. No mention of the uppe classes of the time, in that respect.

Lrimas · 12 August 2018 at 2:31PM

While I have no problem with people being housewives (a lot of us would love to be one) it does annoy me a little bit when they complain about how much they have to do.

Who do they think manages the household where both partners are working? Working 'wives' tend to do almost everything they do and hold down a full time job.

ska_lover · 12 August 2018 at 2:47PM

fibonarchie wrote: »

I think the term housewife implies making a conscious decision to stay home and look after your husband and bring up your children, instead of going out to purse a career of your own.

I understand your point, however..

That in itself implies going back to work after children, is a choice...however for many it is not. For some it is not 'going out to pursue a career of their own' - it is the choice between keeping a roof over their kids head..or not.

It is all dependant on circumstances really

ska_lover · 12 August 2018 at 2:49PM

Lrimas wrote: »

While I have no problem with people being housewives (a lot of us would love to be one) it does annoy me a little bit when they complain about how much they have to do.

Who do they think manages the household where both partners are working? Working 'wives' tend to do almost everything they do and hold down a full time job.

Absolutely. Most people would prefer to stay at home, and look after their own kids, it is (at least for me) the ideal choice (if my kids were still small)

I guess everyone is different, a housewife with a couple of teenage kids, would have an entirely different 'working life' to a housewife with three kids under the age of five, for example... I mean for the working, at least we get a break.. if you are looking after small children you don't even get to go to the loo in peace nor have any adult social interaction for long periods.

fibonarchie · 12 August 2018 at 2:51PM

Lrimas wrote: »

Who do they think manages the household where both partners are working? Working 'wives' tend to do almost everything they do and hold down a full time job.

They employ a cleaner, stick the child/ren into childcare and generally hire people to do the jobs that would have been done by the housewife.

Or they just don't bother doing much housework or cooking and leave the kids to their own devices

Something has to give.

any housewives out there?

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