Last week, I wrote about Michelle Bernard’s reference to “red
state feminists”:
I had never heard of that term, but it seemed to denote women
who had opted to devote themselves full-time to the raising of their children
and who resented those who looked down at them for not being in the workforce. The essence of the concept of a “red state
feminist” seemed to be a woman who wanted to be respected for the decision to
care full-time for her family instead of earning a paycheck in the marketplace.
I expressed in that post my support of such attitudes. Christianity values the intrinsic worth of
human beings as children of God. It
rejects the secular societal emphasis on valuing human beings for their ability
to command a certain monetary price in exchange for their labor.
However, because our American culture respects productivity and
making money over other endeavors, it tends to look down upon those who care
for children. I myself have observed
such attitudes in so many contexts. Over
the year, I’ve heard people describe stay-at-home parents as lazy, lacking in
ambition and wasteful. Sadly, I’ve even
heard terms like “parasitic” and “leech” used to describe full-time parents who
are not earning a paycheck. In my
experience, many people seem to have such attitudes.
When my own husband left his successful career as a corporate
accountant, his co-workers couldn’t believe he was “throwing it all away.” They thought for sure he was keeping a secret
about some wonderful new professional opportunity he was pursuing. And I was surprised when my friends did not
seem to share my pride and admiration for my husband’s sacrifice and prioritization
of his family. They too seemed to think
there was more to the story. I sensed
they thought he must have been fired or something. Some even seemed to be embarrassed for
me.
At the time, I just didn’t understand these attitudes. Why would anyone have anything but tremendous respect
for someone sacrificing the prestige and money of a successful career for family? But over the years I’ve come to realize that
although we as a nation pay a lot of lip service to prizing “family values,” in
reality most of us do not. Deep down
what most Americans seem to really value is status in the marketplace.
Not long after my post on red state feminists, I came across an
article on a related theme: “How Much Is A Homemaker Worth?” The article is available at the link below.
I don’t endorse the basic mindset of the
article. It tries to quantify the
monetary value of a person who stays home full-time to care for family. I disagree with that premise. Not everything of value can be translated
into monetary terms. My worldview
teaches me that human beings have value beyond their financial contributions. We are uniquely precious and valuable because
we are created in God’s image.
Nonetheless, I did at least appreciate
the thrust of the article in trying to refute the common cultural attitudes
that homemakers are lazy and unproductive.
If you buy into the premise of monetizing everything of value, then it
is important to recognize that stay-at-home parents do provide a lot of
services with a quantifiable monetary value.
The article concludes the sum of such monetary value is just under
$100,000.
But of course homemakers don’t earn a
salary. For this reason alone, they are
widely dismissed and disrespected in our society. This attitude is so misguided, so
disgusting. I don’t even know where to
begin to refute it.
Matthew 6:19-21
Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in
or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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