The woman who is in charge of household chores is known as a housewife.
A housewife is a woman who is dedicated to household chores . This is a person who is responsible for carrying out those tasks that are necessary for the daily functioning of a home.
The housewife cleans the house , washes clothes, cooks , shops and, if she has children, takes care of them and helps them study, among many other tasks. Despite assuming these obligations, their efforts are not remunerated , unlike what happens with any individual who has a job or who carries out a work activity.
Housewife concept
For many years, the figure of the housewife was associated with the woman who dedicated herself exclusively to household chores, while her husband went out to work and earn the money that allowed him to financially support the family.
Nowadays it is common for women to assume jobs equivalent to those of men : that is, to work for pay, whether or not they dedicate themselves to domestic work. Likewise, it is increasingly common for men to carry out tasks at home that in the past they did not undertake, since the housewife was in charge of them.
Although the idea of housewife is associated with women, men also perform this type of work.
The role of man
It is important to mention that the idea of a housewife is only valid in a context in which it is the woman who is in charge of carrying out the aforementioned tasks, since the opposite case can always exist: a heterosexual family group in which the man stay at home while the woman takes on a paid job.
On the other hand, a man who lives alone must take care of domestic obligations even when he works outside the home. Thanks to a greater open-mindedness on the part of society , it is currently possible to speak of "household husbands" to group all those men who do the shopping, prepare the food , clean the house and take care of their children, among all the obligations that in the past were associated with the role of women.
Housewives today
Leaving sexist concepts behind is a very arduous task, which becomes especially difficult when the authorities of a nation have interests opposed to this search for freedom . The concept of housewife is one of those that has caused the most damage to women, since for a long time it was considered their obligation once they reached adulthood and fulfilled their other mandate: getting married.
We are in an era in which we have plenty of information to understand that we are people first , before men and women, that we are not born with a sexuality linked to our physical appearance, that we should not follow a pre-established path in life but choose ours at every step; However, despite having access to so many open ideas, we remain rooted in machismo, which filters through the media and keeps these obtuse ideas alive.
Being a housewife or husband indicates an exclusive dedication to maintaining the home, and that can apply to men and women, as mentioned above. It does not have any negative connotation nor is it denigrating; Likewise, it has no relation to the gender or sex of the person: we can all be housewives .
However, this role is increasingly rare, at least "full time" , since nowadays the economic independence of each member of a family is very normal. Thanks to the Internet, today we can work without leaving our home, and that is why many people who used to be housewives dedicate several hours a day to a paid job.