Can you be a feminist housewife?

[wigglybeezer]

Can you be a feminist if you don't have a career but your DH does, especially if this situation has been going on for a long time (13 years in my case)?

I don't feel downtrodden by the way, merely a bit bored and lacking in choice ATM. I earn a small amount of money, so don't have to ask DH for everything but I'm wondering if my Granny (who was a hospital consultant) was a better feminist than me. I just found a photo of her and her pals at medical school where she has noted on the back that there were 18 female medical students out of 180!

It's insane to tax higher rate tax payers even more to pay women to SAH.
Insane.

SAH is a choice. I've been at home, I've got four kids and a husband working mad hours, often abroad.
Being a housewife is a complete piece of piss compared with being a working mother.
Few things infuriate me more than women bleating about how they can't cope with a couple of kids.

So in many ways I agree with SM. It's not a paid role, it IS an important one, absolutely, but it is not as difficult as being a working mother, no bloody way.

Don't tax credits cover most childcare for low earners?

some of you suggest increase tax burden as if there is an infinite amount of money to state via available via tax and ni. a lot of people do bloody hard jobs often for minimum wage,it is not practicable that they pay even more earn even less on order for a housewife to be paid watch her own kids (which she is dong unpaid anyway). but i guess if you dont work and sahp you dont grasp the impact of working for less money ,to facilitate housewife at home paid. and just conceptualise as raise taxes.

pragmatically,the state is making vicious cuts across la and nhs.front line services getting cut,day centres close,front line staff leave and are not replaced.open any local paper look at how local authority and nhs already cannot met demands put upon them. glibly saying increase taxes and magically pay some enhanced carer benefit is simply not a solution. the state is shrinking and decreasing services under current coalition,not increasing and expanding provision

and some of you are tying yourselves in knots. suggest pay sahp salary and provide free childcare. thats is contradictory. if your child in childcare you're not providing direct hands on care so what would any housewife payment be for?

other parallel issues
unaffordable childcare, yes its costly.and can disbar return to work. any enhanced childcare should be offered to those who need to return to work as a priority.to support working,which puts tax and ni back in economy.

THis is why I said that taxes should be raised for high earners and they should also be raised for corporations, with a few more loopholes closed. An economic model which depends on the unpaid work of a designated class ('women') is an economic model of slavery. Even if you set the SAHM model aside for a moment, the current economic situation is that a few corporations and a few individuals have enriched themselves considerably by cutting the wages of the lowest paid, removing their job security and them blaming them for their poverty. No wonder we have riots.

This was such an interesting thread until it got hijacked by SM. What a shame.

An economic model which depends on the unpaid work of a designated class ('women') is an economic model of slavery.

^This

no,this would be so huge it would end up cost borne by all.disproportionately affecting those earn less. yes there are many rich folk and tax exiles,but realistically this would be borne by all who work.not Philip green et al

youre all in la -la land no govt is ever going to advocate payment for that which is already provided for free at the moment

its untenable.read your local paper and see the nhs and la cuts. nhs and la are shrinking budgets not expanding.there is no more money.none,nadda

and its a moot point as housewife isnt a job.hard,arduous - yes
job- absolutely not

would you pay all parents?
would i get an hourly rate for time put in
free childcare for all? does that include all families

lookhere,i post where and how i wish on an open forum
and you'll see its generated plenty responses.
hijack?well is suppose one would say that if you only want threads you like to read...trot over to style and beauty they never disagree,and no one hijacks the which shoes thread.

This is an interesting discussion, lookhere. Despite sm's inability to grasp the concept of which we are discussing.

Don't go.

the fact is that la and nhs struggle to deliver adequate care to those in need. and housewife with no additional medical/social needs who is managing doesn't need a supplementary payment.

respite care,additional support- all experiencing vicious cuts
staff leave post unfilled, huge waiting lists

you might find it useful to look at local newspaper about cuts and what is being done to send back messages to the directors its affecting people and detrimental.all of these things affect day to day life

SM: And the answer to all the cuts in support care is always, basically, let women take up the slack, for no money. That's what all this guff about care in the community and the Big Society always means - women need to knuckle down and re-embrace slave status.

I actually agree to a certain extent Riven it is about value and provision for the unpaid worker.

Personally, we can all be happy that we have that in our own families at this time but we know that women are in a precarious position when a breakdown of relationship occurs. They are dependent on an individual man's good will.

The thing is, we actually need a complete change of economic/societal structure here (I don't know how) but the capitalist model of placing value on contribution by the payment of money and then allocating higher status to the higher paid is not working. Well, it is working for men, but that is kind of the point here isn't it?

and women need to have social responsibility and not put an unreasonable financial demand upon the state.paying housewife a wage is unreasonable and a further drain on finite resources

do women do lots unpaid,unacknowledged care type work for family and extended family - yes undoubtedly

yes do agitate your local authority,mp,and nhs to complain and campaign about vicious cuts in services

No-one seems to have brought up the fact that caring for children is a duty, not a job. Parents want to care for their children, it's an innate biological drive to propagate our genes.

MrsReasonable: Then why aren't more men doing it? There is not enough biological difference between all men and all women for women naturally to be the servant class.

Paying SAHPs a wage by taxing high earners simply reinforces the idea that having a SAHP is the "right" model of parenting.

And it will discourage high earning (ie high flying) women from carrying on working after they have children. Which is rare enough as it is.

Are either of those really what you want, SGB?

Servant? I just choked on my latte.

I would say that DH, who works on average about 80 hours a week whilst I don't, is more servant than I!

SGB, how can you call yourself a feminist and yet deride so many women's lives so easily/

When I read the thread title it conjured up this image in my head:

26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_le9mbkjFIU1qzzy5go1_500.jpg

I find myself agreeing with SM on this thread.

And you can fuck off with taxing high earners even more.

Trying to catch up here from yesterday. Wow - is it heated. Just a thought, what about higher allowanances for children/the infirm etc. instead?

Sorry, should explain myself. I mean as a potential alternative to more free childcare etc. It could be spent on childcare - either by providing an alternative to the income that the carer would otherwise be earning in the world of paid work, or in nurseries etc, whilst the carer uses that time to earn from paid work. Just interested really to see what sort of response that idea gets.....

what a crass generalisation women servant class.do you always claim to make such statements.v pompus

lol,you evidently missed the thread were the the housewife's extolled the joys of
voluntary work
yoga
gym
pta
and glad they weren't wage slaves

and you sgb may consider other women as servant class (does that include yourself), i most certainty dont ascribe that status to myself.

if a man rocked up and called women servant class we'd be understandably apoplectic