Women and work

[Siloam]

My wife was working when we met, and continued to work after we were married. When my sons were little, she took a few years off to give them a good grounding, but then went back to work. It was her choice. It made us more financially sound, but we could have gotten by on just my salary.

She accomplished a great deal for the office she worked for and became depended upon by those in upper management. Also, work has social aspects. We can become close friends with our coworkers. My wife developed several close personal relationships that enriched her life.

She also developed skills that became very useful in helping me through some of my most difficult times.

We helped each other be successful in our respective jobs and I don't think we would have been better as a family if she had chosen to stay home.

 

[Lanolin]

Well, I have done some physical labor. I really like it because I like to lift heavy things. But I guess the type of work you are talking of is office work.

.

No, any kind of work. Women don't just work in offices you know.
(I have, and it's dead boring)

 

[Lanolin]

I actually don't really know any unmarried women who don't do any work, unless they are heiresses or have a baby (solo mum).

Many are between jobs, as, economy is really bad.

I think most women go to work after their last child has gone off to school. If they do stay at home its because they are farmers wives and they actually help work the land. My mum worked after my younger brothers entered school, and she was working before she met my dad. But I don't think she needs to, or is forced to, as Dad can pay all the bills. She does it for social aspects and to have her own pocket money.

Thinking on this though theres something not quite right about how its all set up that women end up neglecting their children, parceling them off to daycare and resenting being a mother if they love their outside work more. Maybe it's just priorities, and they being double minded?
Then there's also this phenomenon of mothers not being prepared for caring for children cos they have spent most of their lives slaving for a boss. Then some mothers are meant to be 'perfect'. But maybe it's just unbelievers moaning about life. I was reading this magazine called 'NEXT' its a woman's mag and its full of anxieties about being a woman and working and also motherhood.

By then end I was fed up with all its whining and chucked it in the recycle.

 

[Lanolin]

I think women choose to work for different reasons than a man would.
I mean, God had told Adam to work but he didn't tell Eve. She was told to bear children. But also to help Adam. God didn't lay on Eve the burden of being the boss, which I think causes a lot of problems when women try and do the mans job....cause the man is not taking any responsibility.

Having children isn't always a blessing though...but I guess its your attitude. I've known many women who regret having them. But maybe its just when they all strung out and the husband has abandoned them. There's always reasons.

 

[Juk]

No, any kind of work. Women don't just work in offices you know.
(I have, and it's dead boring)

I know.

 

[Lanolin]

In the older times all women were in the workforce. The only difference between men and women at the time was how far they wandered from home doing their work.
The modern paradigm has been an attempt to undermine the family and force all women into the workforce to make them tax slaves equal to their husbands.
The paradigm has been tweaked a bit in the last 30 years or so to completely destroy the family unit and force everyone (other than the elite) to spend their entire lives
working, spending, consuming, and drowning in debt.

I would agree with you on one point...that is undermining family and making women tax slaves. It used to be that women would be able to get part time jobs that fit in with family. But now govts are forcing everyone into full time work. You cant look after family with both parents working full time as well, something has to give. You end up spending all that income on daycare, home help and afterschool care, so whats the point? You not better off and the children end up being neglected cos nobodys at home. I suppose thats where the grandparents come in.
Employers really frown on women who ask for part time hours. They think we just robots who dont have a home life of our own. Sorry..i just think thats the problem right there.


When I was in the workforce if you asked for a change of hours they looked at you like you some kind of idiot. You were expected to just work the same hours for the rest of your life and get a 20 cent pay rise that didnt even cover the cost of inflation. I think the system is so bad, that no wonder many women just opt to be 'solo' mums. Its cheaper to say theres no dad...get the benefit, and then maybe just live with the partner being unmarried. heaps of people do that here.

 

[Lanolin]

I was thinking on this further (bear with me) how the bible says for us to study to be quiet and do the work of our own hands.

And I think thats what God wants us to do, do our OWN work not slave for someone else. Because whatever company or organisation ive ever joined, its like you working for someone else doing a job they dont wanna do, for crazy wages to make money for THEM. And in those organizations theres always a lot of buck passing that nothing ever really gets done, you just a cog in a machine, you dont even have anything to show for it.

Whereas if you do your own work you can then reap the rewards of you endeavours rather than give them to someone else who takes a cut. This may be a craft, a creative work, or a clean and welcoming house that is YOURS. And if its your children you look after, they belong to you. Some people say their work is their baby...like having their own business. Well, like Jesus said he was about his Fathers business, are we working to glorify Him and being His humble servants or...is it the enemy that we are slaving for? Just something im thinking of lately.

 

[Abdicate]

What do you all think of women in the workforce? Good or bad? What is the biblical way of thinking about this?

Is it right to push young women into the workforce and down grade motherhood and marriage? Or is it an empowering thing? Or a trick to make slaves of women?

How ought we to treat women who choose to work?

My wife always wanted to be a wife and mother (her words). When we got married she quit her job - she had to... she move to America from Spain. She didn't speak English at the time so it would have been difficult to entertain the idea of a job. Nevertheless, these were her decisions and I fully supported her. We had three kids and she taught them all how to read before kindergarten. Each of my kids, while different, are all upstanding citizens, and well behaved. I never really suffered their "teenage" years - I thank my wife and certainly the Lord for that. Children need a balance from the home before they're off in the unbalanced world. My daughter wants to be a Concept Artist - not sure what that is - and I support her. I feel in my spirit, if the Lord tarries, she'll make a great mother. My wife gives me the freedom to study when I get home from work. She runs the house and in every way is the Proverbs 31 woman.

Why did God make the man the head of the household? Because there cannot be two bosses, just like in a company, there can be only one boss. This fact does not diminish the role of the woman. In fact, the truth is, behind any great man is a woman propping him up. It's all about balance. Is the sack around the heart any less important than the heart muscle? The family is a body, each having an important role to play. Feminism introduced a lie to women just like the lie the devil told Adam and Eve. The lie is to question your status. "You'll be like God" implying that you're not like God. Because of this questioning of status, the family is all but gone. Since the family is all but gone, society is all but gone. (I'm speaking as an American.) My country is about to end and with any destruction, it began with a lie. I read an article where they surveyed college men and what they think about relationships. I wish I had kept it because I don't recall the exact number, but it was something like over 80% of men do not wish to attempt a relationship. They're fearful a night out will turn into a rape case. Men's ideas about women too have been hijacked. Instead of seeing a person, they see women as objects to complete their lusts. The article stated that "men have the internet and friends, they don't need women" which I'm sure happened to Sodom before they went off the deep end. (All these are generalizations and thoughts.)

The first lie of the devil still works today and is used over and over and over again. "You're nothing compared to... [pick your weakness]" He pings our pride creating a false lack. Where the love of money is the root of all evil, the idea of lack is the root of all failed relationships - even our thoughts about the Lord. If we truly believe Psa 23:1, we'd be better Christians. The word want is actually lack in Hebrew.

 

[naomanos]

I was thinking on this further (bear with me) how the bible says for us to study to be quiet and do the work of our own hands.

And I think thats what God wants us to do, do our OWN work not slave for someone else. Because whatever company or organisation ive ever joined, its like you working for someone else doing a job they dont wanna do, for crazy wages to make money for THEM. And in those organizations theres always a lot of buck passing that nothing ever really gets done, you just a cog in a machine, you dont even have anything to show for it.

Whereas if you do your own work you can then reap the rewards of you endeavours rather than give them to someone else who takes a cut. This may be a craft, a creative work, or a clean and welcoming house that is YOURS. And if its your children you look after, they belong to you. Some people say their work is their baby...like having their own business. Well, like Jesus said he was about his Fathers business, are we working to glorify Him and being His humble servants or...is it the enemy that we are slaving for? Just something im thinking of lately.

I'm not sure that is what the Bible means by do your own work.

I have always taken that to mean that in whatever job you are doing you do the work that is set it before you and not worry about what the person next to you is doing. In other words, don't be a busy body in someone else's work.

If they ask you for help than that would be different.

 

[Lanolin]

My mum is a feminist. She always told me to stand on my own two feet. I never entertained the idea of being a wife, in school, all women were trained, if brainy to go to uni, where we get our bachelor degreess (or spinster degrees) and devote our lives to knowledge acquiring.

If we were to have a man, it was to use them as lovers. Being a wife and mother was not an option.
Oh you can get married, she said, but I dont think anybody would want you since you not rich (or pretty). This is what is implied. It seemed like my life was mapped out for me not to have a man in it. Also it seems men dont like smart women. Can you imagine? The arguments we would have.

I remember wanting to study practical subjects like horticulture, and child development and home economics. Not in my school. I was trained instead to study bursary subjects and science and theories. I grew tired and just wanted to leave and get a real job. I wasnt allowed.

At university there were heaps of theories and nobody was looking to be married. It was all experimentation, I think I remmeber one of my high school friends saying, any prospects? Meaning future husbands. But i didnt meet a single person who ever thought about that. Her own parents were both doctors and resented having children. They had told their daughter that if they hadnt had them, theyd be better off (ie DINKs - double income, no kids). As far as I know she is unmarried and a geneticist.

No one in my family is married yet (cept my mum and dad of course) and in my extended family the only one that is is now separated. And some are unmarried even in their 40s. It was always career first.

I have met a lot of christians now after be coming one and in general they marry young, all my high school friends that grew up christian are married. The females give up their jobs to have children. Most attended uni or went on to tertiary education, all worked. I dont know any who left school and went straight into marriage, i think thats bizarre, the only ones that i know would be those that fell pregnant and thus had to.

Although..i know some marriages dont work out, the husband, for whatever reason, cheats or abandons the family and then the wife now has to work. Yesterday in church one announced she now had full time work, so we prayed for her, she has three boys, the youngest is 12' i really dont know whats going on with the dad. I think when she married she was not a christian, so they were unequally yoked and he cheated on her. But then i know some couples who both married in church and end up breaking up too, so not sure what thats all about.

I tend to think its the husbands not taking responsibiltiy to provide for his household that means they lack faith and worse than an unbeliever that puts women in a terrible position of having to make up the shortfall to the detriment of family. But also its womens fear that their husband wont provide or not relying on God to look after our every need, then undermining the husband by taking over. In that case, why marry..its just convenience i suppose.

 

[boltardy]

What do you all think of women in the workforce? Good or bad? What is the biblical way of thinking about this?

Is it right to push young women into the workforce and down grade motherhood and marriage? Or is it an empowering thing? Or a trick to make slaves of women?

How ought we to treat women who choose to work?

Hard. I think my observation in the UK is that with men and women working, house prices now often need 2 incomes!

A sexist view of mine can be that men are more able to "fight things out in the bike sheds" and leave the feuding out of work.

Another sexist one might be that with the oppositions, it can need a pretty ruthless woman to reach the top.

But whatever I might feel, the fact is my mother was a fine professional physiotherapist specialising in her later career in elderly care. So maybe ignore my previous comments and say women can and do play a valuable role in working life...

 

[Lanolin]

I think physiotherapy would definitely come under the occupation of doing the work of your own hands!

 

[Lanolin]

I think fair enough some jobs require men or have always been male orientated so women who work in those fields find it tough. I mean fact of life, is that when a woman is pregnant and has a baby she cannot work and it is dangerous for her to do so.

 

[Lanolin]

Home ownership is now only a dream for many people.

 

[boltardy]

I am a male, so my views might be different than yours. But I believe that women should stay at home and do the housework, while the man goes and gets the money (unless he's a farmer, which I think that God wanted all men to be. Correct me if I am wrong). Housework such as cooking, taking care of the kids and teaching them things, cleaning, and then whatever they enjoy (although, of course, God should be at the center of their lives all the time). This might be considered sexist, but unless a woman is a teacher or something like that, I don't think that they should be working. I also don't think that they should be in leadership.

The Biblical way of thinking about this... First Scripture that comes to mind is the passage in Proverbs that speaks of the good wife who actually does work and owns a small business, if I remember correctly (I don't have the verses right now), so there might be a biblical defense for women working. But if you read the Scripture over, I'm sure that it says something about her staying at home as well. But that is from my memory. Please tell me if you find it.

That is just my opinion on the subject.

Juk, I'll give you my own parental background. My father was from the city of Norwich. His father was almost Victorian in attitude, children were to be seen and not heard and woman't place is in the home. Mother was from a very rural part of Shropshire (sort of almost "Welsh chapel" life - I dont' know the American equivalent) - much to probably commend and she loved it but also had the burden of being born illegitamate. Put this incongruous couple together in the city of Birmigham (mum training in the hospital and my dad I think with a bank) both with a love of classical music and you arrive at me, back in Shropshire and a sort of country person like my mother.

Probably learned more from my mother, certainly did with regards to "survival cooking". But some would say I've my fathers personality...

Not sure where that's going in terms of women and work but seem to want to let you know my background.

 

[Juk]

Cool.

Juk, I'll give you my own parental background. My father was from the city of Norwich. His father was almost Victorian in attitude, children were to be seen and not heard and woman't place is in the home. Mother was from a very rural part of Shropshire (sort of almost "Welsh chapel" life - I dont' know the American equivalent) - much to probably commend and she loved it but also had the burden of being born illegitamate. Put this incongruous couple together in the city of Birmigham (mum training in the hospital and my dad I think with a bank) both with a love of classical music and you arrive at me, back in Shropshire and a sort of country person like my mother.

Probably learned more from my mother, certainly did with regards to "survival cooking". But some would say I've my fathers personality...

Not sure where that's going in terms of women and work but seem to want to let you know my background.

 

[autumn oddity]

I feel women should work...

An idle mind is just a gate way for ; gossip,anxiety,and meddling

 

[Lanolin]

i remember studying horticulture and my tutor who worked in the gardens said of the ladies who met at the community centre for their sewing circle or whatever it was...they were just the most vicious ladies shed ever met. They gossipped and moaned about life and did nothing but b--- about others behind their backs. But then ive known ladies who do that AT work cos where I worked, they didnt actually give you any REAL work to do.