Get Inspired, Be Empowered › Forums › General Discussions › Stay at home moms: are they a step back on the feminist agenda? › Reply To: Stay at home moms: are they a step back on the feminist agenda?
President Obama made a headline in the year 2014 with what he said: “Just Say No to Stay-at-home Moms”. With what Obama said, what do you think of women working outside and managing the responsibilities of their family at the same time? Most women working outside are ridiculed for not doing their part as a mother or a wife. The prime factor behind this is the socio- cultural ideologies of our society. Our society expects women to do all the house chores and look after their family. They are more likely to be married even before they turn eighteen. And as women enter a workplace they are already entering an unequal landscape that has been traditionally believed to be ruled by men. There is prejudice treatment against them at the time of hiring. They are judged on the basis of their marital status. They are even paid much less than men despite being on the same position and doing the same kind of job. Pay raise or training opportunities are some other issues faced by women at work. Problems like sexual harassment have become so common at workplaces that often women tend to ignore such treatments and do not report it due to the lack of support. They are often denied promotions being labelled as ‘women’- inefficient than men. All these practices preaches the idea of a woman limited to being a mere ‘housewife’ serving her family.
Women are capable of working, earing, looking after their family, children and managing their household and I believe that the decision of working outside or staying at home should be left in their hands. If women have the passion for being housewives, they should go for it, if not then they should be able to choose what they want for themselves.