This post of mine can come across as controversial, especially with the current wave of feminism being lashed onto us with such fury, nevertheless I chose to write it. This post is purely written from an analytical and philosophical point of view and not in any way should be construed as my personal opinion or bias.
Being a housewife is a 24 hour job with no holidays and no pay, or so they say. And yet, it is looked down upon as a lowly job, something that exists at the bottom of the work-chain.
Let me for a moment digress to a different subject. Consider two people. 1: Mr. HotShot who is the CEO of a multibillion dollar company and is among the world’s 100 richest people. 2: Ramu kaka, who is a daily wage earner who toils 14-16 hours a day transporting bricks and cement to erect a tall swanky structure for Mr. HotShot to have his office in. The income inequality between the two is obvious. One is a white collared job, the other is blue collared.
Now, why is Mr. HotShot filthy rich? Perhaps, he has an extremely sharp business acumen, perhaps he worked his way up the ladder by being the smartest of ‘em all, or perhaps he channelled his intellectual genius into something remunerative. Ramu Kaka on the other hand is nothing of the sort, all he can offer is his physical labor, time and effort. One can see here that Mr. HotShot has earned his riches by way of using his ‘mental capacities’ whereas Ramu Kaka remains a poor man when he merely uses his ‘physical capacities’.
Obviously, physical capacity is not looked upon as something to be proud of or command a good income (unless you again move to white collar by becoming a sportsperson). The simple reason for this differential is that labour is aplenty in our country. In the West, labor is certainly not as cheap as we see it here, though still fetches far lower income than a corporate profession. On the other hand, people with sharp ‘mental acumen’ are considered scarce. After all, anyone can move a brick from one place to another, but how many of us can successfully build an empire? These skillsets are to a large extent irreplaceable, unlike those of Ramu Kaka. Therefore this scarcity is always accorded more respect, is generally more remunerative and is considered superior to anything that is found aplenty, which makes sense.
Coming back, this very logic can be translated into our situation here. Housewives are aplenty, any woman is capable of being a housewife; but how many women have what it takes to rise up the corporate ladder? Very few. It is only natural that a working woman is looked upon with the same amount of respect as Mr. HotShot vis a vis a housewife.
Now, at this point, feminists will come out and say stuff like – the amount of hardwork, application of mental faculties in prioritising, multi-tasking etc etc required in managing a home is far more (or atleast as much as) than running an office. You mean to say Ramu Kaka doesn’t have to exhibit any such skills whatsoever? I disagree. Ramu Kaka also does all of these. He also has to deal with a family, his work, his future, his kids education and so on.
But that’s besides the point. The point still remains that what is ubiquitous is less valued, what is scarce is respected and that’s the way the world works. A housewife is not looked down upon for not ‘contributing’ much to the family; on the contrary she is indeed being acknowledged for her contributions. Nobody has ever said that a housewife’s role is unimportant and meaningless. Just like Ramu Kaka’s. It is these very ‘blue collar’ people who are the building blocks of the larger things in life. A housewife is being looked down upon merely for the fact that she is now just a commoner like any other woman, there is nothing that differentiates her from the rest, and her chores are perfectly replaceable and doable by any other person.
Having said all this, should a corporate hot shot be considered any superior to a small time labourer just because it is less ubiquitous? This is whole other topic altogether.
Juggling my thoughts... 