"We don 't believe in that [WOHM]"
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| Mon, 01-09-2006 - 11:31am |
On Friday, as I was driving hom from work, I stumbled across an interview with the wife of the one surviving miner from the collapse in WVa. In the course of the interview, someone asked her if she worked.
Her response was that they don't believe in that. She explained that her husband was very proud of the fact that he was the sole supporter of the family, and that he didn't need her help in supporting them. She explained that they just don't believe in women working after they have kids and husbands, and that they believe her place is at home with the kids.
My heart really goes out to her, and this post isn't about her, but about the sentiment that women shouldn't work because their place is at home. And being a real man, even if it means working in dangerous conditions, long hours, holding two jobs and being a step away from poverty at every turn, means that your wife doesn't work.
I suppose this is the first time that I've heard someone, not a movie character or a character in a book, express this sentiment. I don't understand why anyone would be proud to limit their spouse's potential. Or why be proud that you live right on the poverty line?
If they didn't see the dangers of their POV before, surely that entire community, and even the whole country, has now seen the risk that we talk about on here all the time, the risk that suddenly the SAHM will need to find a way to financially support the family. I wonder if anyone will re-think what they believe in.

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Let's put it this way. It sounds like this if I flipped it.
I couldn't work all day and be away from my children. It would make me crazy not knowing what is going on all day with my DC. I can imagine leaving a small baby all day long for 8 or more hours a day. It just makes me feel so horrible that I leave my child in the hands of someone else for some many hours per week. I just couldn't take it.
HOwever...I will say I respect that mindset of the WOHP. I hear them loud and clear. I know SAH isn't for everyone and nor should it be. It is all individual. What I was trying to do here is explain how...A SAHM saying I stay at home to raise my kids is derogatory to some WOHM...just as a WOHM saying I would be bored yadda yadda is to some SAHM.
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