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Location: Home > News > Womans Weekly 2 'NZ Woman's Weekly' follow up article.3 February 2003 edition
A woman's work...is never done"Diana Hendersons article "A Woman's Work..." (NZWW 13.01.03) sparked a huge response from our readers. Here are just a few of your letters I read with interest your article "A Woman’s Work..." It wasn't until 1881 that the British Census excluded women's housework from the category of productive work and for the first time housewives were classified as unoccupied. This meant that 42 percent of women were officially perceived as contributing to the economy instead of the previous figures of 98 percent. I vividly remember picking up my husband from work a year and a half ago and asking him how his day was. He sighed and replied, "I’ve been busy at work (fixing computers)." I had driven 30km into town, dropped him off, went to the bank, arranged the last details of our new mortgage, drove to the house we had just bought put my one-year-old daughter in the playpen with toys, stripped wallpaper made lunch, put the nappies I'd washed the night before and brought with me on the line, breastfed my daughter got her off to sleep on a blanket in another room, continued to strip wallpaper until she woke up, breastfed her again, took the dry nappies off the line, folded them, went to the supermarket and picked my husband up from work. He had done one job. Its about time "women's work" received the status it deserves again. Carolyn Bond, Whangarei
I just read your article "A Woman's Work..." This article really hit home. I am a SAHM (stay-at-home mum) with a nine-month-old daughter. Men especially look down on us for staying at home and bringing up our children. They somehow portray us as living in our nighties and dressing gowns till the late afternoon, feeding our faces and watching soap operas! Society has to learn to respect us, as we are teaching the children today. They are the future generation and even perhaps the leaders of this beloved country of ours. Proud Mum, Wanganui I agree with Diana Henderson's article. I believe being a housewife is one of the most important jobs around. It's not just the everyday household chores that need to be done for a smooth-running, happy family. The time spent with young children is priceless. I was able to be a stay-at-home mum when my children were young and I strongly believe the time I spent with them has contributed largely to them now being confident independent, fun teenagers. So to all you housewives out there - hold your heads up high and be proud of what you are doing. It is so important Blue Eyes, New Plymouth While I agree with much of what Diana Henderson writes, in that women's work in the home, family business and community is invisible and undervalued, I disagree when she claims feminists tell us that unless we have a paying job, we are of no value and not fulfilled. I am a wife and mother of a two-year-old. I am also a feminist and a social scientist. It is not feminists who claim that for women to have value and be fulfilled, they must undertake paid work. Predominantly that has been the discourse/idea promoted by male-dominated institutions which seek to discredit the ideas promoted by feminism, hoping for - and it appears achieving - a backlash from women who prefer to stay at home with their children, etc. In this car feminists promote the idea that women should be allowed and encouraged to undertake any type of work and that it should be visible and thus valued, as their unpaid work, as well as paid work, is an integral part of the functioning of our society. Deirdre Shaw, Dunedin A preferred career? A recent survey of New Zealand woman found a surprisingly high number of us - almost 32 percent - would like to be housewives if we had the choice. Has feminism gone full circle? Are we secretly all craving the kind of lifestyles our mothers and grandmothers had while they fought for the right to have careers? - NZ Womans Weekly - 3 February 2003 edition. Original Article "A Woman's Work" Read Other HomeMaking News
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Copyright © 2004 - 2007 Diana
Henderson
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