I am a feminist and I do not believe that women should work. (2023)

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Women have to stay at home.

Don't stop reading just yet.Women have to stay at home.... if you want to stay at home. Because true feminism is about choices.

be in a lesbian relationship– at least for me – means fewer assumptions about work, both at home and on the go. One of us has to be out there baking the donuts. But why would we both sell ourselves to make money for someone else?

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That's what most jobs are: making things people don't need, or convincing people they need things they don't need. It's difficult and unforgiving, and in a world that only works on dollars, it's absolutely necessary.

So if a woman can and wants to stay at home, she should. But many don't because we don't really value it as a societymeansStay at home. Staying at home means having a clear head. Staying at home means being able to be creative.

It means being able to take care of the person who slays dragons to make thempossibleslaying dragons And for those who aren't part of the gear world but are instead saving lives, improving lives and working in jobs that support people who are saving lives, we're literally lifesavers back home.

Staying at home doesn't mean doing anything. It doesn't mean just doing laundry and dishes.It means creating people.that one day they will be lifeguards. It means taking care of the person who takes care of us. It means living a life we ​​chose, rather than one we "should" do.

How come life has been so turned upside down that making gadgets and making people believe they can't live without gadgets is more important than caring for human lives?

Women should stay at home if they can afford it. Yshould be admiredfor this choice.

We need to rethink the work we value. We need a review. Throwing a pigskin over a leash is not important.Absolut.Creating art, volunteering, caring for the person who cares, how the world is forcing them to be, making life beautiful, healing a world where there are still things to appreciate, these are important. This is vital. This is how people can survive the mindless labor that takes place in cubicles across the country.

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Yes, there are women who stay at home and take care of disrespectful partners and children as slaves. yes there iswomen who stay at homeand eat and shop for chocolate like it's an Olympic sport. But many of us who are fortunate enough to stay at home care for the people who care for us while pursuing endeavors that are not financially valued by society.

I can write because I stay at home. I can educate and challenge, inform and inspire, stimulate and drive, all with the words I write in my pajamas.

If I were in an office, I would write for someone else. It requires approval from publishers and advertisers. I would make money for someone else while following someone else's rules. Why should I choose that if I don't have to?

When my partner comes home and the dishes are washed, the laundry folded and dinner ready after being out of town for a week and storming the castle, she feels so happy, grateful and relaxed. It also means we can spend more time together when she's home because she doesn't have to worry about things around the house once her feet hit the ground.

and when theyesAt home, she always cooks and cleans the kitchen when I cook and she is very knowledgeable about the laundry room. But being at home relieves the urgency of the task. Things are fine when he returns from the chaos. And their thanks make me feel happy and loved and that my contributions matter as much as theirs.

She says that knowing I'm lighting the hearth fires here makes all the crazy commutes and work stress worth it.

And I am forever grateful for the life his work brings us. When we travel, have a fabulous dinner or go shopping, I appreciate your dedication to the system that makes this possible, even though I know how difficult it can be. We are different and complementary, and we both make choices and respect each other's choices and are grateful for each other's contributions.

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For those women who thrive in a corporate environment who get their energy from working with others, more power to them. But this job isn't more important because it requires you to dress a certain way, sit in a certain place, or because it brings in a paycheck.

This is a discussion about choice. Staying home is my honor and joy, not my burden.

Staying at home means not having to participate in systems created and ruled by men who serve only themselves. It means earning no less than men for the same work. It means re-evaluating what really matters and reminding us all that working at home is just as important, and very often more important, than what's happening on the assembly line or on the store floor.

The point is, when life allows it, you choose to work at home (just because it doesn't get paid doesn't mean it's not work) or work outside the home without thinking that you are somehow worth less because you stay at home. House.

A woman says she's a banker, and everyone in the room is impressed. Another says she stays at home and everyone turns up their noses. The woman in banking is part of the disappearance of the middle class; The stay-at-home woman is a community organizer who helps people get the health care they deserve. We value the wrong activities and that's why women look for the wrong activities.

We value occupations that have traditionally been male in the past, and suggest that practicing these occupations (preferably in the cutthroat ways traditionally practiced by men) must be commended while discouraging choices about traditionally feminine things is. We have everything backwards.

If you're lucky enough to be able to stay home, don't waste it. Take care of the person who takes care of you. better the world. Do your art. don't waste it

We're the lucky few discredited by the lazy rich or the despised whose partners think that someone who stays at home doesn't have to lift a finger and because they're out of the house they and their work are more important . Capitalism cannot be what defines us.

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Jenny Block writes for various regional and national publications, including the Dallas Morning News and The American Way. She is the author ofOpen: Love, sex and life in an open marriage.