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Feminism
We Were Wrong To Judge Housewives
Nothing has replaced the hard work they did
Outside a few right-wing religious groups, few little girls are planning to become housewives when they grow up, which is generally a good thing.
On the other hand, all the work that housewives/homemakers/stay-at-home parents used to do is still important work, and too many people have no idea how to do it, even if they could find the time.
We stopped valuing traditional women’s work.
You don’t need to be able to cook — you can order in or nuke something frozen. You don’t need to be able to mend clothing — you can throw it away and buy something cheap and new. You don’t need to be able to clean — you can hire somebody to come clean up your messes.
What would be the point of staying home just to sew on a button, scrub a floor and bake some bread?
We made a bad bargain in the 1970s.
We sent women out to work but the work they did at home didn’t go away, and men have been slow to pick up their share of it.
Women got around this as best they could by coming home from their paid work to do all their unpaid work. If they made enough money during the…
