So what if "the person in the kitchen"?

(Baonghean) - If life forces women to choose between going to work to earn money to "contribute to the family's meals" and staying at home to be a housewife with the reputation of "depending on the husband", "the person standing in the kitchen" or even "lazy, useless", then I would like to say, after all the experiences I have, I still choose to stay at home to be a housewife, rather than going out into society to earn money.

Illustration photo.

I - a housewife can proudly declare that I am the master of my own time. I don't have to wake up early to prepare meals or clean the house, take my children to school before... going to work, so the morning is not a hard work for me, cleaning the house every day is faster and easier.

I don't have to ask anyone for permission to take time off work when I feel unwell or my children or family members are sick.

I don't have to stay up all night with work from the office and forget that my children need me to read them a bedtime story.

Because I live at home, I have more time and opportunity to take better care of my family and myself. Family meals are more carefully prepared, everything is neater. In addition, I can also take advantage of my free time to take care of my skin and exercise to improve my health. This is difficult to apply for busy working women.

Housewives are not as “pitiful” as many people think. Housework is also considered a profession. In Japan, a dynamic and developed country, after marriage, most women want to become a solid support for their husbands. They are supported, and their salaries are deducted from a portion of their husbands’ salaries. So why do people say they “sit around doing nothing and depend on others”?

If you have a small child, being a housewife and taking care of the child is even more meaningful. It is like the glue that binds the family together, strengthening the mother-child relationship. How would a mother feel when her child is closer to the housekeeper than to herself? I have a friend who is a kindergarten teacher, just finished her six-month maternity leave, the child is often sick, so she asked for unpaid leave to stay home to take care of the child for another month. When she went back to work and left the child with the grandmother, she still felt uneasy, always looking forward to the time to go home to the child and could not concentrate on work.

Some people say that if you don’t go out into society and don’t interact with other people, you’ll be out of date. Housewives in the 21st century will only become out of date if one day the internet is shut down globally and never recovers. In the age of technology, where you can find out everything by just “searching on Google”, does anyone think that if they don’t go to work, they’ll be out of date?

Housewives today, decide to be a solid rear for their husbands, not because they are incompetent, incapable of working, unable to earn money, but simply because they understand, know what is more necessary for their family. Obviously, it is not a sacrifice, but a division of labor to achieve efficiency, more importantly, they feel happy.

Money and spending are always a headache for housewives. They always complain that prices are getting higher and higher while their husbands' salaries are not much. This is understandable, but if they know how to spend wisely, it will not be a problem. Therefore, women are better than each other in knowing how to save money wisely so that money does not stress them out.

As a housewife, I am not afraid to say that I feel comfortable because I do not have to wear an extra mask on my face. I do not need to be a hypocrite to this person or that person, nor do I have to be wary of colleagues who are mean to me, nor do I have to be “all in” with relationships at work. I am at home. I am the boss. I just have to learn how to please myself.

Happiness is when you are satisfied with your life. I am satisfied with my position as a “female general” at home. I am confident that my husband and children are well taken care of, and the house is neat and tidy. Above all, I get to do the job I like and know how to love and cherish myself more. Our ancestors have a saying “Never know how much is enough”, so our life, we arrange and cultivate ourselves, whether it is leisurely or “disheveled”, “overworked” is up to us.

Of course, the perfect woman is one who can both take on social work and manage the housework. But if I had to choose, I would choose not to fight for gender equality in the kitchen. Because besides my husband and children, I think I love my kitchen.

An Nhien