The Missing Housewife

We recognise a woman doctor, woman entrepreneur, woman banker, woman artist, woman scientist, woman minister, but we don’t recognise a woman homemaker. She is just a simple housewife.

Societies Definition

Our society has not recognised the value of a housewife. But on the other hand we tend to give more respect to a working housewife. There’s no doubt that a working housewife should be appreciated as it’s a difficult task to look after both home and job. But there are many women who choose to give their family the only priority. They put their personal ambition and dreams aside so that they can focus on their families interests first. The world know them as “just a simple housewife”.

Unappreciated Value

A good housewife is the core to a healthy society. She shapes up an entire generation which leads to a progressive nation. A housewife should be given the highest status in the society. Husband may be the bread earner, but a housewife is the soul of her family. She is like a rope which binds everybody together. But we never acknowledged their contribution to the family. Might be because our eyes only see her daily routine, which involves cooking, laundry, doing dishes, cleaning, looking after the kids. We don’t look beyond these daily routines. The daily chores are thought to be unimportant and treated as a maids work.

We never think that a housewife works many unpaid hours, and often depends on income from her husband’s work for monetary support. But in the past couple of decades things have changed, more and more women have stepped outside. Women want to break free from society’s typical mindset and seek recognition.

The Past

Many decades ago women used to be proud in raising their family. Maintaining the families tradition was a housewife’s responsibility. Her only concern was her family. Cooking a meal or looking after the family was her main objective. Waiting for her kids to come home from school or husband from work, gave happiness to her.

Something must have changed in the mindset of the society, maybe men got more arrogant and started to underestimate their wife’s contributions. This resulted women feeling extremely unappreciated. Seeing the respect men got, women also desired to work outside. A working housewife was not taken up well by the stereotype society. But still many women empowered themselves. This made them financially independent.

Monetary Values

Society has given too much importance to money, everything is weighed in wealth. The more money you have, the more the respect you get. A homemakers work could have been the highest paid job, If we could fix monetary value to it. But unfortunately over society doesn’t work that way. A housewife’s contribution cannot be measured in monetary terms.

As per 2011 India’s census report nearly 159 million women were engaged in unpaid household work, whereas men numbers were around 6 million only. On a recent report by the “Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation” it was found women spends nearly 300 minutes in household works compared to 97 minutes spent by men.

While dealing with a case in January 2021, the supreme court judge Justice Ramana said “the conception that housewife do not work outside and she doesn’t add any economic value to the household, is a problematic idea that has persisted for many years and we all need to get rid of these thoughts”.

In this case, the deceased wife’s earnings were undervalued by the Delhi high court as she was a housewife. The supreme court observed that fixing any monetary value to the homemakers hard work is difficult but nevertheless very important.

These types of cases are not talked enough amongst the society. But instead we ridicule her. We all want to feel appreciated for our work and a housewife also desires the same. Housewife not getting her due credit has led her to step to the outside world. Though there are various other reasons also for woman empowerment, but not appreciating housewives is one of them.

A housewife wants to do a job, wants to earn money. It’s called being independent. She doesn’t depend on husband’s income anymore for monetary support. When one woman steps out, others are also inspired to follow her steps. Career becomes the main objective now. Balancing between career and home is a difficult task. The dedication towards the family is a struggle.

Housewife or Househusband

In an ideal world housemaker working is a good thing only if they are able to balance properly between their work and family. In such case spouse should also lend a helping hand in household works. But today’s working culture is extremely hectic. Half of the day’s time is spent in the office under immense work pressure. This makes the task of looking after the family a bit difficult. Ideally any one of the couple should be a homemaker, be it the husband or the wife. This lends perfect balance to the family and the society. Both couple should only work when it’s absolutely necessary. But, a woman is believed to have more caring skills because of her feminine quality. This is one of the reasons why women make good homemakers. There is nothing misogynistic in this.

Managing together work and house is a difficult job. Very few women succeed in giving justice to both the aspects. And many women struggle to balance it out. Looking after the family is a full time job with no intervals. When parents are not able to give their children proper time and attention it impacts negatively on the emotional growth of a child.

Gender Justice

In maximum cases, an Indian family prefers a full time housewife compared to a working housewife because she can give her family the full attention. But in the modern times if you suggest a woman to be a housewife then you will be called a misogynist person. This is the level of thinking that society have created themselves. It’s true that women and housewives have been subject to many injustices in the past. Now we are too concerned in giving one gender their justice that we forget to give justice to society. Now while trying to rectify the past wrongdoings we are messing up with the future.

Women liberation and women empowerment has overtaken society’s peacefulness. We must understand that a housewife is the most integral part of a family and she should be given the highest regard in the society. But in morden times being a housewife is considered the least achievement.

Inferiority Complex

Because of society’s thinking housewives themselves have started to underestimate their worth. The society and the people around them have forced women feel this way. Very rarely do we hear a woman say that they are proud being a housewife. Most of the women feel proud when they start to earn money.

In the old days people used to say that a woman’s primary responsibility is cooking and looking after the kids. When we say like this, we make it sound very cheap, it degrades the value of a woman. There is no greater job than feeding your family and bringing a new life to the earth. Housewife must understand themselves that their contribution to the society is huge and they must take pride in that.

Education means Money??

Girl education is a big part of today’s life and they must get proper education. In schools we are never taught that being a housewife is also a proud thing. Because today’s education has become job centric. Girls want to do a job, want to earn good money. The thought of becoming a housewife never crosses their minds. If somebody has become a housewife, that means that they have wasted their education and their degree is worthless.

The money centric mind of the society prohibits us to have a positive approach on our thoughts. Because of these narrow minded thinking, we are falling as a society and as a human being. We must understand that If somebody chooses to be a housewife, it needs to be appreciated, maybe it’s her choice. Having a good paycheck and being self dependent is important in these modern times. Similarly being a housewife is equally important.