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posted on Jun, 18 2012 @ 01:27 PM
While listening to a radio personality reading an article from a feminist who says women who “stay home” are 1%’ers who drag other women down
and lower female status, I had to sit down and listen.
I had just finished vacuuming and dusting our 2200 sq foot house; mopping the wood and tile floors; and doing 3 loads of laundry. As I was preparing
to clean the bathrooms and kitchen I listened as a woman said I was “kept” and not making a valuable contribution to society since I’m not a
professional paid housekeeper.
I have to admit this was my “housecleaning day”, so what about the rest of the week. Well, I cook for my husband and I and take a meal over to my
Mom every day. But that’s not work, is it? After all I’m not a professional chef.
Since I’m a grandma I have to admit I don’t have children at home. My senior executive daughter does “real” work, so when her kids get sick,
I care for them, that’s not work is it? When the kids need to be driven to things outside of school, I drive them, but that’s not work. It would
only be work if my daughter paid me to be a nanny and nurse, but since I stay at home and don’t really work, it’s not real work is it? When my
husband or Mom are ill I stay with them and care for them until they recover. But that’s not work, unless I was a certified nursing assistant.
Well, the kids aren’t always sick or need chauffeuring around, so I really am kept aren’t I? I guess the quilts I make for the women in shelters
and the homeless and for camps for foster kids, that’s not work. After all no one buys my quilts so that’s not real work, I’m just a kept woman
who goes out to lunch with the quilt guild once a week.
Oh, tomorrows task? Mowing and trimming our lawn and my mother’s lawn. Hope the aggressive spraying I’ve done in our and Mom’s garden has rid
them of the beetles, but I digress. No that’s not work, that’s being kept since I’m not a paid gardener.
My husband does the real work and keeps me. So when he calls me to run an errand for him that he doesn’t have time to do since he works, that’s
being kept. When I buy the groceries and shop for bargains to save us money, that’s being kept, not real work. When I search for replacement parts
for broken or lost items, that’s not work. When I buy special bargains to take to a local shelter for the mentally challenged isn’t work, is it?
Unless I was a personal shopper, but I’m not, I’m kept.
So I guess she is right, I’m just a kept woman who degrades the role of women in the world. Especially since at one time I was a college professor
who now stays home to take care of 3 generations. What a bad example I set for other women.