Women Working? Did it work?

VaughanJB

VaughanJB

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Controversial, but why not? So what are peoples opinion on this?

Back in ye olde days, the expectation was that men left the home and worked (be the provider) and the woman stayed at home and looked after the house/family.

This changed, and women were introduced into the work place. Two incomes were better than one, and wealth was created.

Update to today, and even if both the man and the woman are working, there may not be enough income to support a household.

From a personal standpoint, women's emancipation from the home, and reliance on a man, was/is a great thing. But from a wealth perspective, it's not really worked out for the family. Today, to even try and get ahead, both the man and woman MUST go to work.

What went wrong? Did anything go wrong?
 

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VaughanJB said:
Controversial, but why not? So what are peoples opinion on this?

Back in ye olde days, the expectation was that men left the home and worked (be the provider) and the woman stayed at home and looked after the house/family.

This changed, and women were introduced into the work place. Two incomes were better than one, and wealth was created.

Update to today, and even if both the man and the woman are working, there may not be enough income to support a household.

From a personal standpoint, women's emancipation from the home, and reliance on a man, was/is a great thing. But from a wealth perspective, it's not really worked out for the family. Today, to even try and get ahead, both the man and woman MUST go to work.

What went wrong? Did anything go wrong?
Click to expand...
I think that many people's expectations have become greater or even unrealistic.
 

Expectations have become much higher. When we bought our first house in 1979 my husband was working a full-time job and a part-time job. I stayed home with the three kids and we bought a very old house that needed a lot of work. For the first few years, we couldn’t even afford to buy the paint to paint the inside. Through the years, we fixed up the house ourselves gradually as we could afford to pay cash. We also paid cash for my BA degree and both my masters.

We had two old cars that my husband fixed himself and usually only one was running. He would take the car to work and the kids said I would either walk or take the bus if we needed to go somewhere. I swapped clothes with friends for the kids, used cloth diapers and our furniture was hand-me-downs from parents and grandparents.

Younger people want everything that their parents have now. They don’t want to sacrifice and save for the future. It’s great that women can work and are able to be independent, from men because otherwise they get trapped in abusive marriages where they can’t escape.

Still if you have both parents working full-time and have children they need decent childcare, before and after school care and both parents need to share the workload. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen and 90% of the homework workload still falls to the women studies show.
 
My mom worked her whole life, at least until she was 65. She reached a point after I got out of high school that she no longer had to work, but she like her job and the extra income so she worked until my dad and her could retire.

My wife worked for the first ten years of our marriage. She then was able to stop working and never looked back. It all depends on the family's income and what the woman wants/ needs to do.
 
IMO it’s all about choices and priorities.

I believe that it’s still possible to live a 1940s or 1950s lifestyle in 2025 if you are content with a lower standard of living, fewer possessions, simpler homes, etc…

In my experience my parents and grandparents did much more self help work and shared various skills among family and friends as opposed to having to purchase various goods and services.

It’s still a valuable practice to cultivate skills like sewing, carpentry, auto repair, etc… that may potentially save money as opposed to hobbies like skiing and golf that cost money.
 
Women have worked outside the home in my family for a couple of generations. Mostly teachers and nurses with college degrees. 😎

So, today would the men working from home for a company, be considered working outside the home? Does the home office exempt them? Is the home office sovereign territory? :LOL:

I think WW2 brought change since women had to work outside the home, doing traditional men jobs, to keep the country going. 🥰

Many young couples have trouble making ends meet with two incomes. :(

Working outside the home, since 16, is what kept me going during divorce. Also the two incomes allowed me to have a great second marriage. :love:
 
VaughanJB said:
Back in ye olde days, the expectation was that men left the home and worked (be the provider) and the woman stayed at home and looked after the house/family.
Click to expand...
What in your opinion is "ye olde days"? Are we talking pre-industrial age? I'm thinking blacksmiths and laundresses? Field worker and tapestry weavers?

It would be interesting to see a breakdown by half century or so. A lot of times it seems like 'ye olde days' means our own young childhood, colored by our particular country/culture/economic level.

This is the biblical time frame idea of women's economic role:
The passage that best captures the essence of a woman's work in the marketplace is found in Proverbs 31:24, which states:​
"She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes". ​
This verse from the description of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 highlights several aspects of a woman's engagement in the marketplace:​
  • Production and Trade: She is not merely a consumer but an active producer, making valuable goods like linen garments and sashes. Linen was a valuable commodity in ancient times, requiring skill to produce.
  • Engagement with Merchants: She interacts directly with merchants, selling her goods and participating in the economy beyond her household.
  • Business Acumen and Resourcefulness: This demonstrates her wisdom and strategic thinking in managing her resources and ensuring her products reach a wider market.
This passage provides a positive example of a woman who is both diligent and business-savvy, contributing to her family and community through her work in the marketplace. It challenges the idea that women's roles are confined solely to the domestic sphere and highlights their valuable contribution to economic life.​
 
My brother moved out of the city and into the suburbs around 19 77 because a house was $74,000 then.

That house today is $524,000. Its older than it was when he bought it. Makes perfect sense.
 
One of my grandmothers never worked outside the home. My other grandmother had a job in a factory assembling something for the war effort for about a year. It was considered your "patriotic duty" to do that if you could. Other than that, she only sold jewelry at home parties.

My mom, on the other hand, mostly worked from the time she graduated from high school until she retired. She took a year or two off while we were small but mostly worked once we were all in school.

I can remember being 18 and working at a job, sitting and talking to my coworkers and we were discussion whether it was easier to be a guy or a girl. It was agreed that it was easier to be a guy, because they could take the initiative and ask a girl out and, also, can you imagine having to work for the rest of your life to support a family??? Sigh. How naive we were...... I'm pretty sure the vast majority of those youngsters I was sitting with that day worked for the rest of their employable days.
 
Well I thought previously that it was not possible unless you were very highly skilled/paid to have a one income family. However when I moved temporarily to Yakima I found out that I was wrong.

At the time in Vancouver Washington you could rent a studio apartment for about $1, 100-$1,500 a month. Up in Yakima you could rent a two-bedroom house. While you had probably 30% of the entertainment collective up in Yakima you also had prices and cost that were more in line.

You had less jobs in certain areas, but more in others. I looked at some states, 4 months ago. Hell, you could BUY a house in some states that needed work, but went for $80-$200K 2, 3 and 4 bdrm with yards and not even close to Chicago.

But people want a nice (White?) neighborhood, updated housing and affordable (to their desires) and if they don't get it, they'll complain on social media how unfair it all is.
 

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