MissGypsy, considering that you are a cook and a nanny and a housekeeper and a laundry operator and a personal shopper, why would anyone think that you are not worth $140, 000?
Wealthy people pay that much and more to have those tasks taken care of.
I envy your motherhood, but I don’t envy all of the work that your situation brings with it! If I had had a choice, I would liked to have been a SAHM, but with a crew to help out.
And I honestly disagree with you because of the hours put in every week. It’s a seven day a week job with no vacations. My own mother easily put in ninety hours a week. That’s fourteen hours a day, six days a week and a little less on Sunday. You could add seamstress to her job description.
My understanding has been that the study took the actual average wages paid to people performing these jobs and calculated their value when done by homemakers. Remember, it’s not just household work. It’s parenting also. I don’t think the study overinflates the value of the SAHM. I think that too often society undervalues her contributions.
Too often the SAHM has been taught that other women have little respect for her contributions. They are on guard and defensive as hell: “I’m a stay-at-home-mom. Now get off my back.” Yikes!
The link to the book at Amazon is fascinating. Apparently some feminists don’t appreciate SAHM. At least that one didn’t! Notice the reviews of the book. It was not well received. Certainly Amazon customers didn’t care for it. After 58 reviews, it has only three stars. I found the about the author comment interesting:
She’s not a typical feminist. From the beginning they have supported personal choice.
Most feminists you’ve met haven’t discussed their social, political and economic viewpoints with you. You don’t even know they’re feminists. Here’s a clue: Some of them are SAHMs.
Yep, and some have a reason. A lot of feminist’s don’t like the economic dependancy a single income household creates. Nor do they like the idea that their careers are prejudiced because of the “Mommy Track.”
Other feminists do celebrate the choice women have - but they do want it to be an educated choice, not some sort of default.
And few people - SAHMs or WOHMs like the couch sitting, TV watching slobs who are SAHMs because its “easy” (and, yes, when your kids fend for themselves and you don’t bother to clean and you cook the same thing that a Mom getting home a six cooks - its easy). They give a bad name to women overall.
I imagine I might be looking at this simplistically, but it seems to me that each party to a marriage “earns” pretty much one-half of the family’s total income.
Isn’t it a pretty basic economic principle that anything is only worth what someone will pay for it? I don’t understand assigning a “value” to services that no one would ever pay.
If my (mostly) SAH wife thinks she is worth $140,000, well, as soon as she starts bringing home that kinda cash, I’d be glad to quit my job and live off of her income.
I think they are trying to look at it that way. Finding someone to do all the things a typical wife & mother does (housekeeping, caring for kids 24/7 – including educating them and overseeing their healthcare – managing the family’s business, and giving the husband emotional support) would run you about $140k (keep in mind, those overtime costs are what really kill you).
Whereas finding a new man to bring in some dough – what’s that run, a hot meal and a few blow jobs?
** I’m kidding **
** really I am kidding - mine rarely experiences either *** :smack:
Would you clarify the above? I may be misunderstanding what you’re saying, or perhaps I wasn’t clear enough.
My intention was to state that most women I know who tell others that they’re feminists (i.e., explicitly state somehow or other that they’re feminists) are, in my experience, those that are at least somewhat disdainful of SAHMs. None of those women are SAHMs. However, and I see that I did not say this very clearly at all, I realize that many of my acquaintances who do stay at home are feminists - they don’t appear to feel the need to cram it down others women’s throats, however.
:smack: