Homemakers........

To me the term 'women of substance' is actually a no brainer, in a sense......Most women always have substance ... They are just made of that material.....God made them like that.....Ofcourse how they use that substance within is a different aspect altogether.... Some may make it an essence and others a menace :)

Anyway as this post unfolds i guess it will become more clear as to what i really mean.... Its all very nice and great when women become achievers in todays' world.. like being highly educated, having great jobs, holdin great positions,managing home, husband, kids , inlaws etc .... Women can be efficient multi taskers ...........I always have tremendous regard for women as they juggle between so many roles and responsibities......

One set of women who are totally undervalued and also guilty of not valuing themselves enough are the 'housewives', who for some reason i prefer to call 'homemakers'..... The latter term is more apt as i feel it conveys the true essence of what they do along with conveying a sense of dignity and appreciation as well....... For all practical and other purposes they truly "MAKE" a house a home......A house is just a concrete structure and becomes a home just because the woman tends to it with so much TLC! One day if women dont do the things that they do on a daily basis, the whole structure will crumble....you can see the mess and how everything goes haywire.......A man reports sick for a day or takes the day off his office will still run smoothly .. but one day if a woman decides to take an off or report sick a house can never run, forget smoothly.........

It makes me feel deeply sad when i often or rather very often hear women say " im ONLY a housewife"......... Its sounds so absurd .... U do everything in the house and u call urself 'only' a housewife ......If u ask someone who is employed and working somewhere, have u ever heard anyone say ...."im only an architect/accountant/teacher etc etc", when in the literal sense the word 'only' would be much more apt there as they do 'only ' that job.....Housewife or homemaker is not classified as a profession or a meaningful vocation and thats where we all falter...... If it were given the necessary value , respect and importance it would surely rank as one of the highest paid and most esteemed position/rank there ever was.........And if this is tough to believe, a good way to assess this would be, the next time u meet any homemaker ask her about her regular day, what its like, when it starts , all that she packs in a day and what all she achieves and what all is expected of her, U will clearly know what im talking about apart from the fact that it will be very insightful and informative at the same time......

I feel that women who are homemakers need to value and respect themselves much more .... And so do everyone around them..... Managing the A-Z of the workings of a home, apart from inlaws and kids ... phew .... its just tiring to even think about it,let alone live it day in and day out, without really burning out or breaking down ..... .... Agreed that in this day and age some things are simpler with the technology around and labour that we have but despite all that ... to even oversee it or be part of it in any capacity is huge..... Being a hands on wife, daughter in law and a mother at the same time is a tall order and doing it every single day without a break is superhuman .... In any office there is atleast one if not 2 days off that u get in a week ... How many times have we heard women say 'im takin a day off from my role as a home maker'...... Or " i have a 5/6 day week" And they so deserve that and i feel they earn it bigtime for themselves, given all that they do.....

Most or rather many of us belong to a generation where our moms have been homemakers .. Today when i look back i realise what a great and noble job they have done and how most often it was always taken for granted ... We never thought of the hard work, the sense of duty, the love and dedication that went behind every meal that was always cooked and served on the table before we even got hungry or ready to eat......... and how often did we really end up appreciating that ...... or showing gratitude for it ..... On the contrary we possibly made a fuss and threw tantrums about what was not there or how we did not like what was cooked ...... Sometimes when i say something to my mother, in sheer ignorance or silliness .... all she says in return is "U will know when u get married, have home of ur own and have kids of ur own as well" and that hits the nail on the head...... I have friends who can swear by this statement and totally vouch for it, as they have been there, done that ........... I guess we will realise and empathise when we are in the same situation....

There is just one desire ....that women who are homemakers take themselves more seriously and have more self admiration along with self respect for being who they are..... Being a homemaker is one of the most thankless jobs, only second to that of being a mother, if at all we were to classify and categorise, and i use the word job here , for the sheer want of a better word..... Imagine doing so much , not getting paid or even expecting a remuneration for it, and not even being appreciated ... how sad is that really .......

It amuses me to think that if, one fine day 'homemakers' are so empowered and realise their own worth what will we all get to witness......and the first thought that comes is that we all might just get into a lot of trouble...... Imagine if someone were to come up with a brainwave or an idea of forming a union of homemakers, and being a part of that means being able to have rules and regulations, do's and don'ts, have a new set of demands from time to time, go on strike , demanding wages/ salaries( cant put 'higher wages' here though that wudve been ideal), perks and benefits, gratuity, retirement , pension etc...

And if an idea truly has the power to change your life , then believe me this "idea" would certainly change not only an individual life but a lot of lives on a colective and much larger scale :)