To ask your views :- Is being a mum a job.

[ICanSeeTheSun]

I can not decide if being a mum is a job.

I do see this a lot on Facebook, under employment is full time mummy.

Aibu to think if a mum is a job I want my employment rights, such as 21 day holiday.

It is a vocation.

It is work. How come it's work, or a job, if you're getting paid for it as a chilcdminder, say, but it' not a job or work when it's your own children?! And you do far longer hours, without days off, than a childminder does.

Also, being a SAHM is not the same as being a housewife, for those equating the two. Some women are housewives and they've never so much as held a friend's baby. Many women are SAHMs and they don't do all the housework, nor even the majority of it. SAHM means looking after your child or children. Yes, you have to do housework as it crops up, but that doesn't mean all responsibility for everything else in the home should be yours. Well, not unless you've had the bad luck to end up with a lazy, sexist twat.

If you're a SAHM, that is most definitely work. Studies have shown that if SAHMs were paid the equivalent of what others in paid employment would receive for doing the same activities for a wage, they would receive upwards of £80K pa - and that's only counting 9-5 hours.

Also v dismayed by the internalised sexism on this thread, with lots of mothers eager to dismiss, minimise or reject how much effort goes into mothering, or to not see it as worthy as paid employment.

Perhaps if caring, of all types, was more respected in our society, mothering would get the respect and maybe even renumeration that it deserves.

Apols for typos, have toddler leaping on me as I type.

Depends what is meant by job. Clearly it is not employment, but it does involve a lot of jobs aka tasks that you have to do over and over again, on daily basis, as a big chunk of your life.
if you are a parent, then there are things you have to do, a lot of them. each of these things are jobs that have to be done. Tasks. Chores.

I Always think that what people are actually falling out about on these threadis what is meant by the word job. To me, a job is a task, not limited to employment, that has to be done as partof your responsibilities in life. So parenthood is full of jobs.

Not employment but hard work nevertheless. The childcare element of a sahm role would be considered work when outsourced. So yes I agree sahm aren't housewives.

Not employment but hard work nevertheless. The childcare element of a sahm role would be considered work when outsourced. So yes I agree sahm aren't housewives.

Agree with pp, it's hard work but it's not a job.

one of the many definitions is "A responsibility or duty"
So yes it's a job

If you're a SAHM, that is most definitely work. Studies have shown that if SAHMs were paid the equivalent of what others in paid employment would receive for doing the same activities for a wage, they would receive upwards of £80K pa - and that's only counting 9-5 hours.

Sorry, but I think that's bullshit. Most nannies of what a sahm does, give or take, and I've not heard of any charging £80k per annum!

I don't dispute that sahms work. Of course they do, and some of them work extremely hard. However, it isn't a job as such. You are accountable only to yourself (and perhaps to your kids when they are older, but hey, that applies to all of us!)

Not a job, you don't get paid.

Yes, you have to do housework as it crops up, but that doesn't mean all responsibility for everything else in the home should be yours. Well, not unless you've had the bad luck to end up with a lazy, sexist twat

Or possibly because their partner works long hours too and the fairest way to divide the work is for the SAHP to take on all the household chores and childcare.

Yes, you have to do housework as it crops up, but that doesn't mean all responsibility for everything else in the home should be yours. Well, not unless you've had the bad luck to end up with a lazy, sexist twat

I do most of the housework because I do have a very easy life compared to my husband.

This morning my husband left the house at. 7:30. He has worked all day and will not be home until 6pm. He has some work to do this evening.

I got up and had breakfast with my husband I then did housework and chores until about 1pm. I then had a swim and went for lunch. I came back about 4pm and went for a horseride. I am now floating about making tea. I don't think a bit if housework is much to ask when I do lunch, shopping, coffee or the gym most days.

Joysmum - When both partners are at home, everything should be 50-50. Just because the man get paid for the hard work he does in his work hours, doesn't mean he should be let off doing whatever work continues to need to be done once he is home.

"not a job cos you don't get paid"
So what are the huge numbers of voluntary workers (clues in the name) doing then, pissing in the wind?

If you're a SAHM, that is most definitely work. Studies have shown that if SAHMs were paid the equivalent of what others in paid employment would receive for doing the same activities for a wage, they would receive upwards of £80K pa - and that's only counting 9-5 hours.

I am running a substantial house with a smallholding, raising five children plus a stepson and fail to see what I do that is worth 80k a year. If someone wants to pay me any amount to potter about please let me know where.

My husband does things around the house when he is at home and during holidays we split 50/50.

But seriously I have a lot of leisure time, I would be taking the piss not to do the majority of the housework.

Philoslothy - I wasn't suggesting SAHMs should do no housework, or even less than 50%. Just that being a SAHM doesn't automatically mean housewife. Your lifestyle, lovely as it is, isn't representative of the majority of SAHMs.

If I would have to pay someone to do it for me e.g outsourcing my childcare or cleaning then yes, it's a job.

Oxford I suspect I am quite representative in that my husband goes out to work and I get on with the chores. If anything I may have more to do as we have so baby children, a large house and animals.

So doing my family's accounts and tax return is a job, then, as I can outsource it to a professional accountant?

Or perhaps sex. Technically speaking, I could outsource that to a prostitute. Does that make it a job?

I suppose so Boffin.

If I would have to pay someone to do it then the work has that value, it would be someone else's "job" so why not mine?

The full time mummy fb thing is mocked in my area. Its seen as a bit of a Jeremy Kyle type post, but you do have funny laughs on those peoples profiles as they are usually drama filled.

BoffinMum

Blow job sorry couldn't resist.

Oxfor Dictionaries online definition of a job is A paid position of regular employment

Of course it's not a bloody job. You had sex, you got pregnant, you had a baby. No-one is employing you, it is not a job. It's hard work, but it's definitely not a job.