What is it about being a stay at home mum or parent that gets to people?
Since I chose to quit my job to be home full time I am constantly questioned about when I intend to return to work and the inevitable “what do you do all day?”.
In this post I discuss why stay at home parents, and mothers in particular are undervalued this way and why we do not owe people an explanation.
I’m a mum not a maid
What is the role of the stay at home parent? Is it to nurture and care for our children or is the unspoken expectation that your role is to do it all?
In this post I discuss the difference between what we expect from a paid childcare provider and what we expect from stay at home mums (or fathers) and whether society needs to rethink how it values the role of parents at home.
Parental inequality, Damaging mum labels and the devaluation of fatherhood
If you are a mum, you are very quickly put into a box. You are either a “working mum” or a “stay at home mum”. Because in society we love to label a mum. Where are all the “working dads” at?
In this post I unpack some of the problems with labelling mums, parental inequality and the devaluation of fathers, and how in order for women to truly be able to “have it all” something needs to shift.
Motherhood & Feminism: Quitting Your Job to be a ‘Stay at home Mum’
I wanted to have a family, a career and to be financially independent.
By putting my career on hold to look after my children am I reinforcing the stereotype of the mother and not furthering the pursuit for women’s equality in the workplace following childbirth?
By not working am I dependent on my male counterpart and not sending the right message to my children about women’s roles?
Feminism is about empowering women to make informed choices about their own lives but as a ‘stay at home mum’ I feel most judged and unsupported by other women and mums.