What economic value do you put on someone who takes the responsibility of raising kids without a salary? The Supreme Court has asked the Parliament to rethinkthe Census of India where homemakers are referred to as economically non productive workers alongside beggars,prostitutes and prisoners. This sort of absurd categorisation is shocking,more so in India,where motherhood as a vocation has always been acceptable. Any mother will tell you that parenthood can be a full time job. Yet theres never been a worse time anywhere in the world to be a stay-at-home mom. Images of superwomen are thrust on us everyday,of an 80-year-old blind woman climbing Everest,Saina Nehwal reaching teh second spot in the World Badmindon Rankings or some female orbiting in space. Surrounded as we are by such women achievers,merely attending to your kids homework and wellbeing seems very trite. Daily menial chores seem particularly designed to make one feel like a loser while the exciting universe passes by. But what economic value do you put on someone whos taking on the responsibility of raising kids without a salary,not to mention a thankless task? Working almost seems easier. In Norway,the Housewives Association changed its name to the Women and Family Association when its membership plummeted to 5,000 from 60,000. In a study conducted in the US,there was a much higher prevalence of depression among homemakers than any other category of workers,attributed to isolation and the repetitive nature of work at home. Conversely,in New York in the 1990s,a non working wife was a status symbol. But theres been a huge cultural shift since then,many more women work now as most homes need double incomes these days. In Delhi,I have some girl friends who have private incomes and dont need to hold down traditional jobs. A couple of them seem a little wistful when I describe my typical day,wrongly imagining that Im in the thick of things and enjoying every minute of it. I envy them their hours of leisure and time with kids,secretly thinking they should be more appreciative of the fact that they are in the extremely fortunate position of not needing to work for money. Of course,work is fun. It gives you a routine,a sense of purpose and achievement and most important of all,money. But as a mom I regret going back to a TV job four months after childbirth since none of the stories I was filing were likely to change the destiny of mankind. Nor was my salary drastically altering my standard of living. My time would have been far better invested in my kid,my stress levels and health would have been better and even if I got bored,Id be bored at home instead of at the office. In the course of a lifetime,a year or two here or there makes no difference to ones career. Besides,caring for children simply cannot compare with other professions. In India,the mother is traditionally revered,though the stigma against non working women is growing. And if even the Census assesses a homemakers contribution as meaningless,things are depressing indeed. When theyre not well off,theyre lazy for not working,and when theyre rich the general impression is that homemakers live frivolous lives of unimagined opulence. Lucky them,I say.
