10 months, 1 week ago-
The work done in a household is given utmost importance in a woman’s family life. Throughout ages, women are pre-conditioned to be a ‘perfect housewife’ in order to sustain the peaceful ambiance of the family. The household chores are termed the womans’ duty and this is often justified by the natural tenderness and caring behaviour in a woman.
The debate surrounding the question whether housework should be considered a paid work or not, arises from the gender disparities of work participation in a household. In a country like India, this disparity is even more serious because studies conclude that women spend 9 times more time doing household chores than men. Supporting the argument that paying for household chores makes a woman financially independent, it poses several other problems, preventing it from becoming a reality. One of them is the question ‘who will pay’. It is impractical to have the husbands pay for the household works because it doesn’t add to the family income and it heightens the notion that men are the sole providers of the family. Neither can government be asked to pay for domestic chores as it doesn’t add to national income otherwise. Paying women for domestic chores makes the role of women stereotyped. It prevents women from looking for other occupations. It lead to women having no incentives or inspirations and just thinking about marriage and working in and for the home for the rest of their life. Because of societal and cultural differences, it is not easy to evaluate a common salary for all the women doing household chores.
Although it could be seen that the work done by a woman in a household adds to the economic conditions of the family and thereby to the national economy itself, however it is also widely accepted that the work done by a mother cannot be compensated by anything.
Therefore paying for a household chore may enforce certain sexist roles in society which hinders the gender equality and development. Rather what should be promoted is equal shares in household chores. This only can promote a gender neutral society and remove the stigma associated with gender roles.We live in a society where sex and gender roles are assigned as soon as a child takes birth. Rather than treating the child as a person, family, as the first institution of socialisation starts moulding them into their respective gender roles to make them establish their identity in society and be “accepted” within it. When it comes to girls, they have since centuries played the roles of daughters, wives, sisters, and mothers and have never been given credit for the selfless works they perform as the nurturer and caretakers of their families. Women, however, also work at offices, and are paid for it. Do you know where the similarities lie between working women and housewives? Both do it for their family or their loved ones, but primarily for themselves. Yes, working professionally and domestically is their choice, and they take pride in it. Working outside to feed their families does validate them getting rewarded with money and material things, but what they do for their family is a form of a woman’s love for them, which can never be measured with riches. Paying money for what they do as housewives undermines their love and efforts for their family as it entangles them as an outsider, while also disregarding their choices to stay home as a nurturer of their family. Instead of money, what would make their efforts and love be acknowledged is by sharing household chores with them, complimenting them for their work from morning to night by thanking them, and trying to take care of them as much as they do.
A housewife is a most hardworking person. Since a woman provides a shape to the emotional and educational well being of the children. A woman playing a role of house wife should be paid as she’s the strongest foundation of the house who supports her husband and children. Without the work of a homekeeper, other family members would not be free to go to work and invest in a career for themselves.
Last year, during a ruling, the Supreme Court asserted that a woman’s work at home must be seen as equal to that of her office-going husband. It added that the labor of housemakers contribute to the economic condition of the family, and thereby to the economy of the nation, but did not quantify this value.
Housewives should be paid for their invaluable contributions to the family. Their work envelops various obligations, including childcare, overseeing funds, and keeping up with the home. By remunerating housewives, we recognize the monetary worth of their work and the penances they make by swearing off private professions. Paying housewives additionally advances social acknowledgment and orientation correspondence, as it approves their job as equivalent supporters of the nuclear family. Notwithstanding, carrying out an installment framework might introduce useful difficulties, and elective types of help and acknowledgment should be viewed as close to money-related pay.
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