Why homemakers don't get employment benefits?

Household management is not an easy task. It takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication. Apart from a regular and stable income to support various needs and activities, a family also needs a person who can take care of many other day-to-day responsibilities. The management of these things can test a person's limits as these tasks vary in their nature and difficulties, tasks like cooking, house cleaning, making sure everything is in its place, and taking care of guests, not only require various skills but are also physically exhausting and time-consuming. Anyone who has tried their hand at this work will agree with me when I say that it is not easy to manage an entire household single-handedly. But this work doesn't generate any official income, no one gets paid for taking care of their own family members. Household work, no matter how important it is doesn't generate any official salary or other benefits for the person who does it for their own family. Official income tax returns of all families where only one partner is officially employed and the other partner is a homemaker contain income details of that 'employed' person even if that return is filed jointly by both partners. I always wondered why the work of a person who is a full-time homemaker is not valued in monetary terms as much as other types of work? Why there is no mechanism to attach a monetary value to the work of countless housewives and househusbands? In most countries, including many developed countries this workforce mostly consists of women who tirelessly work towards the welfare of their families. Some of them even sacrifice their careers to take care of their family. Some of them have to do this work even after doing a full-time regular job. It is good to see that there is a growing trend where both partners try to share equal responsibilities towards the housework, especially in cases where both have a full-time job. If the same work is performed by someone outside the family like a maid or nanny they get paid but this work has no monetary value if it is performed by a family member. Women get a lot of praise, they are hailed as epitomes of sacrifice, kindness, dedication, and love for taking care of their families but beyond such emotional lip service, this very important work doesn't receive any recognition. It is not enough to say that this is a great service to their family or value of this type of work can not be measured in monetary terms because these workers also should get rights and benefits like other workers, at least within their own families. Someone needs to speak for their rights like they speak for all other workers. They are not organized that doesn't mean they don't have a voice. There is no retirement benefit or social security or any other benefit offered to these people that comes with most full or part-time jobs, why? If we don't see this as a problem then we should reexamine our understanding of value-added work and try to change its definition if necessary. We have neglected these people for a very long time, and just because they don't complain about this discrimination we should not allow this malpractice to go on. This work needs some official recognition to empower millions of homemakers. Homemakers and their work are critical for the betterment of our society, it is equally important as any other type of work therefore should be entitled to compensation and benefits like any other type of work.

I understand that this can introduce a lot of technical and legal difficulties but our society has dealt with more complicated and sensitive issues successfully. So, I don't think that this issue is so complicated that we can't come up with some practical solution for this. Why don't these women (as well as men) claim half or some percent of their family income amount as their own wages in joint income tax returns? Why can't they get half a share of the Social Security and Medicaid tax so that they can generate their own benefits rather than depending on benefits as a spouse? It is unfair for them to depend on their spouse's social security benefits when they also work equally hard to support the spouse who generates the income. These people offer a great amount of support to their partners so that they can work out of home.

One may ask, why it is necessary to attach a monetary value to housework? A very short and quick answer to this can be, simply because it is also a work, a very important work that requires a lot of effort, time, and energy, therefore, it should be treated as any other type of value-generating work. The lack of any monetary value has generated a very wrong perception of this work, so wrong that this work is not at all considered value-generating work. If someone says that his or her partner is a homemaker, then it is assumed that they don't work or are not employed or they are a stay-at-home parent, which is a very wrong perception. The main reason for this perception is the lack of any monetary value attached to this work. We need to change this perception and attaching some monetary value to this work might help in changing it. The statement, "I am a stay-at-home parent" doesn't actually reflect the amount of effort that person takes to maintain that home. I request all concerned agencies to look into this matter with all sincerity and try to come up with some practical way to remove this shortcoming. For centuries this work did not get its deserved due and if we can do something to change, it will be a great achievement. It will definitely strengthen our social fabric, and this will also bring dignity and respect for all these dedicated homemakers which they totally deserve.  

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright : Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]