"Seven of the 18 women who are currently CEOs of Fortune 500 companies—including Xerox’s (XRX) Ursula Burns, PepsiCo’s (PEP) Indra Nooyi, and WellPoint’s (WLP) Angela Braly—have, or at some point have had, a stay-at-home husband."
"At-home dads are sometimes perceived as freeloaders, even if they’ve lost jobs. Or they’re considered frivolous kept men—gentlemen who golf."
Says this article. Although it may, on the surface look like a good way of repentance for men, the question begs to be asked - Isn't this creating the same problem all over again, but this time with men? Won't there be a generation of men, sometime in the future, struggling to find their feet in the woman's world, while trying to manage household stuff at the same time. And even though at some level, my evil self would love to see it happen, to be completely fair - it's not fair. Is it not possible for both spouses to have a high-flying career AND a life AND a family? Is that really too much to ask?
I think what needs to happen, and what is slowly but surely taking place is, both need to own equal parts of the responsibility of earning the moolah, but also taking care of family and home. If that is not possible or feasible, then something about our attitude needs to change that makes the person who stays at home feel like this -
"Caring for children all day and doing housework is tiring, unappreciated work that few are cut out for—and it leaves men and women alike feeling isolated and diminished."
Staying at home and taking care of children, is also what my mother did, and I respect and appreciate her for that. That is an important job, important enough to leave a job that pays, and it deserves it's due respect. But what is that change that needs to be made to make the person (man or woman) who now does a full time job of caring for home with no weekends, or paid vacation, feel the significance that they deserve?
Thoughts?
2 comments:
Good one. Staying at hoem can kill anyone's self esteem and rust their skills. So its bad either ways. But if someone wants to, there should not be any stigmas attached to it. To make them sound like lesser ones. There are times I feel like leaving everything and just whiling away time in my hobbies. But then I realize it might kill the other, confident part of me
Staying at home should not be a stigma, or in any way considered lesser, and might even give someone an opportunity to pursue different things! My mother, who has been a stay at home mom for a major part of her life, has been a great source of inspiration...Even though she was a home-maker, she was always active and involved in different activities!
And even by itself, home-making is not an easy job - and of course it's a real job, with tougher circumstances of no weekends, no retirement, no paid vacation!
But if both do want a high-flying career, that should also be possible by equally owning the responsibilities of home-making!
WIL - What I am trying to say is, even if you were to leave your job, and spend time pursuing your hobbies, you shouldn't feel any less confident cos how many people have the courage to do that anyway!
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