The Modern-Day American Housewife

I stay at home with my kids. It is a challenging, sometimes demeaning job, but the rewards are far worth the effort. I am fighting for the right to be a housewife in the 21st century. Why do I do it? For my kids of course! But the repurcussions are much greater than that.

Being a housewife has become a very controversial lifestyle in America today. We are pressured, as independent women, that we must bring home the bacon to be equal. We are barraged with images of wealthy successful women working in big business or entertainment. Their bodies are tall and gaunt like a man. Their power careers are traditional male roles. Basically what we are being told by society is that we must lose our femininity to be equal. I do not think I have to value masculine over feminine traits. Am I the last person to think that a homemaker also deserves respect?

50,000 years of being mothers cannot be undone by 50 years of "feminism." I am a true feminist. I do not want to be walked on, pushed over, or told what to do by a man. I should never be made to feel unequal or paid less for the same work. However, since when does being a feminist mean that I must go to a 9:00 to 5:00, wear pant suits, or enjoy casual flings? I love the freedom of being able to do such, but that does not mean that I would be happy living such a lifestyle.

On an almost weekly basis I am made to feel that I am not advancing my life because I stay at home with my kids. I often feel guilty about my right to be a homemaker and try to circumvent the topic altogether. Women today are in a very touchy situation where they are labeled "bad mothers" if they do not take up at least half (and often much more) of the domestic responsibilities. At the same time we are being told that we must have a career or we are not "advancing" women's rights. It is a kind of "damned if you do - damned if you don't" situation.

This is obviously an unfair treatment of half the population, but it also hurts men as well. Instead of one person at home holding the house down, we have a system where both parents have careers. This puts more money supply into the economy. Now the price of commodities adjust for a double-income household. What this means is that, today, it is very difficult to make ends meet unless both partners work. At this point, being a housewife is depleted as an option. Now both the man and woman work for 8 to 10 hours and must pick up the kids, before finally coming home to make dinner, clean, pay bills, bathe, and barely get 7 hours of sleep a night. You can only see why so many marriages end in divorce. The woman no longer needs the man and the man no longer needs the woman. Since the female role is disappearing what will the new role be?