(ThyBlackMan.com) Far too often there are misunderstandings about what it means to “work” from home. Stay at Home Mom seems to register differently because unless you are working remotely from a job your work is not considered real work. This is rather unfortunate because where we work, and how, can become grounds for women to shame each other; the mom outside of the home is sacrificing her family, while the mom at home doesn’t want to work and chills all day. Both of these positions of work are important…and should be respected as work. Do we shame the woman with an internship that is working for free? If your answer is no there are some things we should discuss about work as it pertains to the mom working from home. At the end of the day moms working outside of the home, and moms working inside of the home are both exhausted and see their work as never done. While the mom working outside of the home doesn’t have to defend the fact that she works because that is understood every time she clocks in or walks into her place of employment. With that being said let’s look at five misconceptions about the mom that is working from home.
1. Housework is work! The woman at home that engages in house of housework everyday is doing a job that, unlike women doing the same thing in the home of others, she doesn’t get paid to do. This job doesn’t end as there is always something else to do. The more people that live in your home, especially of varying ages, the more difficult the job can become. Managing a home is not for the faint at heart…and this should never be passed off as not working.
2. Most women that work at home do not have nannies. Some of them agreed to work from home because childcare costs can become very expensive. So, she must manage the work she does and that baby all day without breaks. Let’s not count when the child is sleeping as a break…because that is crunch time to get as much done as possible. There is no one there to relieve her of baby duty.
3. Some women that work from home have more than one job just like the women outside of the home. They have a job in a virtual space where they clock in to work at a certain time, and they have the work of the house just as other women do. If they have a child at home they must manage the house, and their kid without it interfering with the job they work in front of the computer.
4. Just because a woman works from home doesn’t mean she isn’t just as busy as the woman working outside of the home. Working from home doesn’t mean I can freely go on lunch dates every day, nor answer everyone’s calls and messages all day. I’m working carries the same weight in the home as it does outside of the home.
5. Just as you wouldn’t want to be assumed a slacker on your job that abuses the clock, don’t assume a work at home mom is sitting around the house all day. That assumption is quite offensive to the women that end their day exhausted from working hard all day.
Moms that work from home manage the house, get other work done, and in some spaces also manage their children throughout the day, and all of this work much get done in the same space every day. Many of them cherish the times they can get out of the house for a break of any sort just to breath. Sometimes home is not as much a sanctuary or relaxing when everything in your day happens there. Most importantly we should support each other as all of our work should be values be it in or out of the home, and our motherhood should be respected as all of us are doing the best we can for our family.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
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