The Economic Value of a Housewife
- Larissa Cheung
- Jul 31, 2022
- 3 min read
In this century, where most of us reside in economies run by an extent of capitalism, attributing a value to something by giving it a monetary value has never been a more common practice. This periodical will give an insight into the labour of being a housewife, a role and responsibility quite contrary to many counterparts in modern society – one that does not encompass a monetary incentive for work.
The division of labour within a familial setting has been split by gender for centuries. Men were heavily involved in their country’s workforce, taking up the role of breadwinner; women stayed in their sphere of domesticity, adopting the care-taking role as what is commonly referred to as a housewife.
Throughout history, resources were not as abundant as they are today and productivity was low, making it near impossible for a non-working family member like a housewife to be supported. This all changed during the industrial revolution, where housewives became an increasingly commonly recognised role in society for women to take.
This investigation will take an overview of a typical housewife’s responsibilities, listing them out, and assigning an equivalent pay had that work been outsourced. The following list explores such:
Childcare – US$2,450
Data suggests it costs an average of $2,450 per month for a full-time nanny.
Cooking – US$2,250
Data suggests it costs an average of $25 per hour to hire a personal chef.
Assuming one is hired to cook for three hours per day for a month, it would cost
$2,250.
Cleaning dishes – $180
Data suggests it costs an average of $12 per hour for someone to wash the dishes.
People on average spend 30 minutes per day washing the dishes, making the
monthly cost $180.
Washing clothes – US$170
Data suggests laundry costs an average of $170 per month.
A housewife's net sum of these typical responsibilities amounts to US$5,050 a month, or US$60,600 per annum. This is far above the US’s median income of US$31,133.
However, it is important to note the limitation of such a calculation, as it does not precisely represent how much a housewife could earn. In a realistic household, other family members may help out with chores, most people eat out frequently, a housewife would run family errands, etc. This calculation has also disregarded the variance in rates across different regional areas, and average prices are US prices.
Nonetheless, this information proves that housewives possess some economic value too, even if indirectly.
Many support the idea that housewives have a meaningful economic contribution. For example, in India, a motor accident incident was brought to the Delhi High Court to grant necessary compensations. Still, the earnings of the deceased wife were reduced in court as she was a housewife. Fortunately, the Supreme Court in defence argued that the notion that housewives do not work and contribute to the economy is “problematic”, and should be overcome.
In a divorce trial (1979) attorney Michael Minton and his team including economists, employment experts, and psychologists argued that the housewife divorcee wasn’t valueless. It was argued that a housewife’s managerial responsibilities play a role in her husband’s prosperity. Had a monetary value been attributed to a housewife’s companionship, her influence could be responsible for the husband’s net worth of “20 to 50 percent.” A further financial benefit the wife brings is being able to pay lower taxes by filing joint taxes.
Housewives may not be breadwinners, but they are consumers that take their family’s breadwinner’s income and circulate the economy. The parental role they possess may also strongly improve social stability and development, as raising a confident and motivated younger generation will affect the quality of human capital decades later, in turn influencing the economy decades later. Despite how “household labour is essential for the survival of the economy”, its contributions in economic value aren’t recognised because it doesn’t count towards national income.
The authors of a published research journal from the Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences argue that their quantitative and qualitative analysis argues that governments “should consider the possibility of household production value into the calculation of local income, even national income.” Aside from “inserting socio-cultural variables in the research; for the community, this research could change public perception and give reward for wife’s housework.”
Visibility for the valuation – economic, societal, etc – of a housewife is important to argue for, as this supposed “duty” of a woman has a bigger influence on our families, society, and economy as a whole. Giving housewives a benchmark for their value is only returning their well-deserved recognition, and allowing society to see them as more than “just a housewife”. “Value” in the 21st century should be more than just explicit economic value, as there are a lot of determinants that influence such a value, like a housewife’s work. She receives no direct monetary compensation; she does it out of love.
References
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