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nafta

Is a HOUSEWIFE really unemployed?

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Castro   

Originally posted by Niciima:

To me the thing that makes no sense is how you can hire a maid to do the house chores for you and she gets paid but when you do it your self you dont get a cent. Why is that? Your doing the same if not more chores then the maid? This world does not make any sense.

I see where you're coming from. You do agree that time is money, right? Using that as a premise, if a mother spends time with her child playing, reading or what have you, then that time is more valuable than the cost of doing house chores that could take forever. Professional maids have this down to a science. They're well equipped, well organized and well trained. Whereas a mother would have to do the work and keep an eye on the children, a maid would come in and basically lick the house clean in a couple of hours. You decide if your time is better spent doing what you want/like or cleaning toilets. Of course, if you can't afford the maid then the premise above doesn't really apply to you for your time and your money are not equivalent. In this case, your time is less valuable than your money.

 

Hope that helps.

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Niciima   

Fidel bro thanks for trying to make this more clearer for me but what still doesnt make any sense to me is what if I wanted to stay home and become a housewife or whatever it is you wanna call it why cant I get paid for that just like a maid? Also its not really about wheather I could afford a maid or not because if I cant they still get paid by the government right? so why cant I get paid instead and make things easier for me instead of having to go outside the house for work and come back in eight hours for more unpaid work?

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Castro   

Originally posted by Niciima:

Fidel bro thanks for trying to make this more clearer for me but what still doesnt make any sense to me is what if I wanted to stay home and become a housewife or whatever it is you wanna call it why cant I get paid for that just like a maid?

Oh you mean for your husband to pay you? Well, I dunno. I'll have to ask my wife how she feels about me cutting a check for her at the end of the week.

 

Also its not really about wheather I could afford a maid or not because if I cant they still get paid by the government right?

No. The government does not pay for maid service. If they did, I'd be the first one in line.

 

so why cant I get paid instead and make things easier for me instead of having to go outside the house for work and come back in eight hours for more unpaid work?

We're going a bit in circles here. You can go out to earn a living. You can also choose to stay home. If you do the latter, you will have "work" to do at home and you want to get paid for that? By who? Your husband? I think you should be paid.

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Castro   

Originally posted by Niciima:

Fidel do your research pro the government does pay for that they pay for everything you just gotta find the ways.

They do if you meet certain income restrictions. I know. For example, where I live, if your income falls below the family poverty minimum, you can get subsidized child care, housing and such. Unfortunately, I do not qualify for that. Which kinda sucks!

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Bess.   

why would u have to be paid for taking care of ur family, how do u equate that to working, ofcourse its hard and long and sometimes unappreciated, but not always and from seeing my mom it was a labor of love, and i respect my mom for what she did for us...thank goodness we were not raised by relatives and maids... she didn't have to work...that is the great thing cause our father did his part and provided for his family...as long as both partners in the marriage take care of thier parts it should be happy home...rather than a maid/master situation...the main fact is that as long as its a choice and not forced life sentence it should be relatively enjoyable...and not quite the hardship its made out to be.....hey if I choose to be a housewife....believe me and it would be my choice...I would have the best looking house, my husband would enjoy the best meals... and my children will be the best taken care of children around....I just blv...whatever u do...just do it to the best of ur ability...and there is nothing personally wrong with taking care of ur family ...I wouldn’t mind having my office at home....and operating hrs would be when the children r in school...I blv life is for enjoying ….do what u gotta do….work …stay at home….go to school…its all good….just be happy... ;)

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The Term Unemployment is an economic term, which to the contrary of what many belief, doesn't mean – not having a Job or not working - The term un/employment can not be interchanged freely with job/less.

 

This is the definition " A person is said to be "unemployed" if he or she is looking for work, is willing to work at the prevailing wage, but is unable to find a job"... Based on that definition a Housewife is not unemployed neither is she employed…confusing? Not really, Perhaps what the question ought to be is “ is being a housewife a profession? Or should the society regard being a housewife as a profession and hence compensateâ€.

 

In my response to the above question - I would examine few scenarios:-

 

1. Educated/Skilled Woman who has chosen to be a housewife and made the sacrifice to earn money or pursue a career.

2. Non educated/Non skilled woman, who has foregone to seek an education or skill, chose to be a housewife.

 

In both situations there are opportunity costs involved, the real question is how do we measure these Opp costs? And in comparison to what they would do in the house (given the list you provided) which one is more valuable to the society? And that is where the problem lies. What is more important to the society? note that it varies from one society to another and if it decides to compensate the housewives for the sacrifice they made, should they all get the same consideration? Or should we assess case by case? Hard to answer, isn’t it?

 

So it is not a simple straightforward question to answer or a case where all men gather and decide to acknowledge that housewives do hard tasks everyday and therefore should be recognised.

 

^^^ Just realised all I did was I've added complexity to the q and didn't provide any answer...Wicked!

 

Altho...I say any man, who doesn’t recognise what his wife or the mother of his children does in the house and blames her for his shortcomings, is a FOOL :D

 

Cheers

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