Bringing Back "Homemaker" as a Job Occupation
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Dear Friends,
This week I have a new essay out in Hearth & Field (an absolutely lovely magazine, to which I encourage you to subscribe). I argue that we should bring back the term “homemaker,” in order to both encourage and recognize the women — and sometimes men — who devote themselves to the work of the home.
You can read the full essay at this link: The Job for Which All Others Exist: Let’s Bring Back the Term “Homemaker.”
Recently, I have been thinking about how we do a disservice dividing women into strict categories of “working mom” and “stay-at-home mom.” (I loathe the term “stay-at-home mom,” by the way, as you can read in the essay linked above). My friend Serena Sigillito has recently written a superb essay on this topic: Homemaking Isn’t Just For Stay-at-Home Moms.
Yet many married couples have one person who is more orientated towards work, and one person who is more orientated towards home. For many (to be sure not all!) families, they solve the “work-life” balance problem as follows: one person prioritizes earning money, and the other prioritizes taking care of the family. This does not mean that the homemaker never does any paid work — or that the career-orientated person never pitches in at home. Still, it seems to be workable balance to have Mom focus more on home and family, and Dad focus more on work . . . or vice versa, depending on the family’s unique situation. Importantly, Pew recently released a study titled: Almost 1 in 5 stay-at-home parents in the U.S. are Dads.
I think we need policy solutions that are orientated towards families who want or need to have this type of homemaker/breadwinner dynamic. On a wonky/technical level, this includes reforms to both Social Security and employer-sponsored healthcare, that involve recognizing that many women (and men) go in and out of the workforce depending on the needs of their families. On a societal level, this would involve shifting the “Mommy-War” dynamic into something more productive. I would love to hear your thoughts.
In hope,
Ivana
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Such a insightful comment, thank you. Yes - it is frustrating that most policy proposals to aid families are “one size fits all” proposals that assumes all or most mothers want to be full time in the workforce. There are so many proposals for universal childcare - I would love to see some concrete proposals that meet mothers where they are, and offer increased protections for those who only want to work part time or sporadically so they can be providing more of the “hands on” care to their kids.
The bio at the end of the Hearth & Field pice tickled me.
Especially the part about preferring to wrestle with a financial spreadsheet than make sourdough bread. I need to know there are homemakers out there like me, whose preferences and strengths in making a home are sometimes.... not as picture worthy. :') Docs & spreadsheets & lists are where I shine in keeping my home! haha