The Heart of the Matter

To add to my post earlier today I believe it is necessary to address the issue of my father and his perspective that women should be the primary caregivers. First, it is necessary to mention that he believes that the role is invaluable. I recall him telling me a story about his parents moving from Saskatchewan to BC in 1934 with a horse drawn wagon and a team of work horses hauling all their worldly possessions including an automobile. My grandmother had 4 children under the age of 6. When they embarked on their journey the youngest child was 6 months old. They were on the road for weeks. In his words, "I don't know how mom did it!"
Now I can't deny that father isn't a chauvinist actually he is quite prejudice in many ways; however, when it comes to family dynamics he believes in a division of labour. He went to work outside of the home and my mother managed the work at home. Never once, did he indicate that domestic work wasn't 'real work'. In our particular household it wasn't a matter of raising children and looking after the home because we lived on a farm the list of duties and responsibilites encompassed much more.
The challenge we face as women is that raising children has no value in the monetary sense of the word. Yes, everyone proclaims that it is a 'big' job with no pay. That is of course if we are measuring everything in life with a dollar sign. And we do!
Nothing is going to change until we place a 'real' value on the work that is conducted at home. If we hire the services of someone to clean our homes, care for our children, prepare our meals, look after the general maintenance of our home it would be expensive but for some reason we don't perceive it in those terms. The contribution to the GDP is immeasurable. Women who stay at home should be able to contribute to Canadian Pension Plan. to be continued.