NationStates Jolt Archive

So, what do you imagine when you think of a homemaker?

I gather most people wouldn't picture an outspoken pro-choice liberal socialist who is an atheist as a homemaker now, would they? It doesn't fit the description.

Most progressive women, those who consider themselves pro-choice might seem more likely to not be homemakers because they have a post-secondary education.

Of course, there are exceptions.

Why am I saying this? Because my fiance and I decided that until I find the career I really want and not some unsatisfying minimum wage job that I would be a homemaker.

All I can say is at least my apartment is clean and my laundry is done! :D

I basically don't live up to anyone's expectations, it works for me.

Homemaker?

Is that some kind of term for housewife/husband?

Urmm if people actually want to stay at home and do the housework, fair enough, some people enjoy it for some reason, and if not, then domestic duties should be shared between partners living together.

So, what do you imagine when you think of a homemaker?

A person (usually with a spouse) who does not work (regularly, at least) outside the home, but takes on most of the responsibility of taking care of the home, cooking, and raising any children in the home.

I gather most people wouldn't picture an outspoken pro-choice liberal socialist who is an atheist as a homemaker now, would they? It doesn't fit the description.

Why not? I have a friend who, while she isn't too hip on giving up work altogether, would love to work simply as a consultant, being able to work from home and spend more time with her daughter and, well, be a homemaker. She meets all of that except socialist and atheist, I believe. =)

Why am I saying this? Because my fiance and I decided that until I find the career I really want and not some unsatisfying minimum wage job that I would be a homemaker.

All I can say is at least my apartment is clean and my laundry is done! :D

If it doesn't cause you guys financial difficulties and you both agree, more power to ya!

Am I the only one who was thinking along the lines of http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/fun/images/bob_the_builder/bob_builder_270.jpg

*GASP!*

You're selling your soul to the devil!

You're giving in to the oppressive gender roles enforced upon you by centuries of patriarchal male dictatorship!

:rolleyes:

Good for you! :)

Yeah, I was thinking of some kind of construction worker.

Homemaker reminds me of the woman who lived two doors down from my family. She was pretty adamant about how my mom's choice to pursue her medical career would cause countless amounts of emotional harm. All she did was bitch at me about the way I dressed and what I did with my time and who I spent my time with. When I was sixteen, the other stay at home mom hit on me when her husband wasn't around.

I have a bit of a negative outlook towards homemakers. Just don't become weird.

So, what do you imagine when you think of a homemaker?

I gather most people wouldn't picture an outspoken pro-choice liberal socialist who is an atheist as a homemaker now, would they? It doesn't fit the description.


In other words, my mother...

She actually enjoyed staying at home and helping us kids rather than spending all day stuck behind a stuffy cubicle (she worked for the state DSHS). She said that everyone should do what they love best, and she loved taking care of her family and home and making sure we were very well fed.

So no, I don't think of Edith Bunker when I think of housewife.

Homemaker can be as challenging or stupefying as you make it. It certainly beats most of the clerical/secretarial/menial labor jobs that even some intelligent, well-educated women find themselves stuck in. Of course, the satisfaction derived from the job would also depend, in some part, on whether you were married to an adult human being or some of the jerks that some women saddle themselves with.

... decided that until I find the career I really want and not some unsatisfying minimum wage job that I would be a homemaker.

That's great.... Now go fix me a turkey pot pie.

I don't think I would mind being a housewife (homemaker :rolleyes: ) for a while, but not for long-term, I don't think.

my dad was a liberal, democratic socialist, pro-choice, agnostic househusband for about 15 years until me and my sister grew up.

although my expectation of what a 'homemaker' would be is usually of a liberal, politically apathetic, pro-choice, agnostic person who most likely will be a woman. but that's because i live in europe. my dad became a homemaker because he got compulsory medical retirement from his dream job soon after i was born and my mum became the breadwinner.

there is, of course, nothing wrong with being a homemaker.

if that is what you want.

is that really what you want or are you just settling for this until you start working toward what will be your real goal?

if what you think you really want is to end up in some outside of the home career, you do nothing to advance that goal by staying home and keeping house. it holds you back from making any progress. almost any outside job would be better at moving you toward your goal than staying at home will be.

the other consideration is that being a homemaker is a terrible risk. relying on someone else for your livelihood is predicated on the idea that you will stay together forever. every year you let someone else support you, you lose the ability to build up your own earning power. you are betting your financial future on the idea that you and your fiance will never break up, that he will never lose his own job, that he will never become disabled and unable to work, that he will not die young.

Well, if the adult film industry has taught me anything......