Motherhood Revisited

For a large number of women in the world, motherhood is not a choice. It is a burden of being borne female. The male head of household normally makes most decisions on sexuality and reproduction. After marriage, women then go through nine months of pregnancy, having one child after another, not getting an education which can give them information and empower them to take charge of their body, their health, especially to have control over their reproduction. In poor areas all over the world, poor women have to take manual jobs to bring more income to cover the cost of caring for the children even when the husband having low-paying jobs. The situation is quite different for women living in the United States. American women make their own choice in getting in and out of marriage. But there is an interesting phenomenon that happens since the year 2000. By their own choice, young married women with children, from across all educational level, have been quitting jobs in the labor force. This trend happens because the pressure and burden of double-workloads outside and inside the home are unbearable. American women choose to quit their income earning jobs to become a stay-at-home wife, enabling their husband to file joint-income tax to gain a tax advantage. In the United States, government gives financial benefit of up to 50 per cent for family with economically depended wife. In this situation, many women, rich or poor, tend to make the same decision to lesson the burden of their double workload. Choosing economic dependency as a life style is not really a good choice for their life in the long run. I think it is a self-destructive decision, economically and emotionally. Since relationship between husband and wife in today’s world is more complicated and unstable, what will happen to an “economically dependent-wife” with a few young children to care for when the marriage ended in divorce or in death? It is a high security-risk choice for women that in general, they will loose out in the end. For those who plan to make such an economic perilous decision to become a “stay-at-home” wife, I recommend reading first the new book, “the Feminine Mistake” by Leslie Bennett.

Filed under Gender Issues |