Writer Chetan Bhagat is a househusband. His wife is in a highly paid job, while Chetan takes care of their children and does the writing from home. Both are successful in their respective careers.
Recently, Justices G.R. Swaminathan and M.D. Sumathi of the Madras High Court said “homemaker” is a gender-neutral term and called it the new normal. The Supreme Court has recognized the economic value of homemakers.
The major problem in relationships is the age-old expectation that “women should sacrifice their career goals and dreams, migrate with their husbands, and work for their husband’s achievement”.
Homemaking isn’t just about cooking and cleaning. It’s about taking care of the daily routine, like groceries and gas booking, taking care of children, their homework, and school schedules, taking several decisions to keep the family running smooth and safe.
Women have been doing this for ages, either willingly or unwillingly. Now, working women are expecting husbands to share such responsibilities, and that’s not wrong.
We need to think beyond age-old traditions, stop living for society, and start living for ourselves. Nowadays, we have the luxury of working from home; we have technology to stay in constant touch. Nowadays, both genders are breadwinners, so why not both be caretakers??
Sharing responsibilities in a relationship should not be based on who earns more, but on who has more flexibility at work.
The idea of a homemaker being gender neutral does not mean every couple needs to adopt the same style and make the husband stay at home. It simply allows more than one version of family life to exist.
Have an open conversation, and understand each other’s career goals and priorities. See how you can achieve it together. If this can be negotiated and settled, then the relationship can work for both, without sacrificing their career goals.