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I've already turned off Morning Joe a few times this past week and I'm listening to Chris Hayes on TRMS now, and there seems to be a lot of wank over semantics about women and work. (Not Chris Hayes specific. Most of the news the past week since the whole Hillary Rosen thing started.) The following are personal opinions and I welcome discussion.
Every time I hear discussion of women working vs. women staying at home taking care of children, I automatically think of my mom, who has been gainfully employed with few gaps since she was about 19. She has fewer gaps in employment than I do, actually.
My mom had wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. Had really wanted to. But she didn't have the option. It may also be a sacrifice to stay home with one's kids, but it is a luxury to do so while being supported by someone else, usually a spouse. (There is so much more to this, lots more different situations, I know, but I'm mostly thinking about my mom on the one hand, who didn't have the option of staying home with me and my brother, and my Aunt J, who was able to stay home with my two cousins because my Uncle B was able to support all four of them. This is just the part of the issue that I feel comfortable talking about.)
Also, there seems to be a semantic problem with how the various talking heads define "work." That being a stay-a-home mom is a "job." A job is gainful employment. Staying at home and taking care of one's kids isn't a job, it's just a lot of work, i.e., performing necessary tasks. Or even staying at home without kids--it's work, but it's not a job. I myself am a housewife (or whatever the current euphemism is). Maintaining my home and running errands are fucking adult responsibilities. It's work, but not a job.
If I was gonna clean someone else's house or take care of someone else's children, I would be getting paid and then it would be a job. But if it's my house, my (hypothetical) children? Taking care of those things are just my responsibilities as an adult/parent.
tl;dr Not all work is gainful employment. This does not negate the importance of unpaid work like cleaning one's own home and raising one's own children.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Supernatural fangirling.
Every time I hear discussion of women working vs. women staying at home taking care of children, I automatically think of my mom, who has been gainfully employed with few gaps since she was about 19. She has fewer gaps in employment than I do, actually.
My mom had wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. Had really wanted to. But she didn't have the option. It may also be a sacrifice to stay home with one's kids, but it is a luxury to do so while being supported by someone else, usually a spouse. (There is so much more to this, lots more different situations, I know, but I'm mostly thinking about my mom on the one hand, who didn't have the option of staying home with me and my brother, and my Aunt J, who was able to stay home with my two cousins because my Uncle B was able to support all four of them. This is just the part of the issue that I feel comfortable talking about.)
Also, there seems to be a semantic problem with how the various talking heads define "work." That being a stay-a-home mom is a "job." A job is gainful employment. Staying at home and taking care of one's kids isn't a job, it's just a lot of work, i.e., performing necessary tasks. Or even staying at home without kids--it's work, but it's not a job. I myself am a housewife (or whatever the current euphemism is). Maintaining my home and running errands are fucking adult responsibilities. It's work, but not a job.
If I was gonna clean someone else's house or take care of someone else's children, I would be getting paid and then it would be a job. But if it's my house, my (hypothetical) children? Taking care of those things are just my responsibilities as an adult/parent.
tl;dr Not all work is gainful employment. This does not negate the importance of unpaid work like cleaning one's own home and raising one's own children.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled Supernatural fangirling.
