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Infinities of being a housewife

Why her ‘job’ is perhaps the most magnanimous one in the world
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   you want to be when you grow up?” She put on a pensive face as she
   mulled over the question. Finally, her eyes brightened as she pointed a
   finger at her mother and squealed, “A housewife!”

   For a moment, every soul listening to that seemingly innocuous exchange
   was stunned into silence, which was broken only by the guttural
   laughter of my aunt’s father-in-law, my cousin’s paternal grandfather.
   “Sweet child! That’s not a profession. The job of a housewife is hardly
   a job. It’s a duty.”

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   deny the fact that a majority of Indian women still do not go out to
   work. Instead, they work at home. Not from home as entrepreneurs or
   freelancers, but rather in their houses, as housewives.

   At the core of every family, nuclear or joint, is the housewife. The
   importance of her physical presence is underscored by the stasis the
   household comes to when she is not around. She single-handedly runs it,
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   There is hardly any difference between the ‘job’ description of a
   housewife and that of the chief executive officer of a company. While
   the CEO steers a company forward, the housewife is at the helm of the
   household. The CEO may work 12 hours a day, taking important decisions
   in the field of production, sales, finance and human resources. The
   housewife is just as able an administrator. She, in fact, works
   round-the-clock. She also deals with physical, financial and human
   resources. Her decisions affect the lives of people and the well-being
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   seems like a ridiculous idea.

   The patriarchal understanding of the role of a housewife is that her
   job is a duty. She has to perform these tasks on a daily basis,
   irrespective of whether she likes it or wants to do it at all. Her job
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   interpretation of this metaphor, our male chauvinistic society has
   failed to realise that while the man may bring home the bread, it is
   the woman, or the housewife, who actually makes the food that he eats
   out of that bread.

   A housewife wants nothing more than to be treated with love, respect,
   gratefulness and dignity. Her ‘job’ is perhaps the most magnanimous one
   in the world. It’s time society woke up to her domestic significance,