Housewife - The Standard

The life of a housewife
(1) Daily life
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INVARIABLY, housewives are the earliest riser in the house, and
the last one to go to bed at night. Their days are jam-packed with
household tasks – preparing meals, cleaning the house, doing the
laundry. They carry out the same tasks day in, day out, all year
round. Many of these tasks are mechanical (機械式), repetitive
(重複) and monotonous (單調).
(2) Interpersonal relationship
AS a housewife’s life revolves around her husband, children and
other family members, her own identity is obscured, and often
neglected. The traditional image that “father is man-of-thehouse” relegates women to a subjugated and passive role.
blues
(3) Self-development
INEQUALITY
Hong Kong Today
GENDER
GENDER
INEQUALITY
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
MARRIAGE strips women of their own identity. A married
woman gives up her family name and original home, then sacrifice her career, social circle, and hence prospects of personal
development. Deprived of active social interaction, her intellect
stops growing, which, in time deepens their isolation from society.
Men are so lucky. When a man marries, he picks up a million-dollar
employee, writes Chow Suk-ping
Translated by Lon Yan
HE TV drama series, The Family Link (師奶兵團), is about
housewives, as clearly suggested by the Chinese title. To
look the part, actresses Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯) and Kiki Sheung (商天娥) had to put on weight and go light on their
make-up. But have you ever wondered what exactly does the
word “housewife” mean?
A housewife’s job is a tough one, requiring multiple skills and
“inhuman” working hours. In a recent report, a United States
website said if evaluated strictly on commercial terms, the “position” of a housewife should carry an annual salary of well over a million dollars.
T
Profile of a housewife
Questions to ponder
THE main characters in the drama were portrayed to possess
stereotypical “housewife” characteristics:
(1) Sheren Tang found the experience of taking care of children
during the making of The Family Link intimidating. She said:
“If it is so hard being a housewife just for two months, it is
hard to imagine how one can do it for a lifetime.” Do you agree
with her? Why do you think being a housewife is a hard job?
(1) Expert price negotiator in the market –
administrator of the home
In a promotional event, the main actors, including Sheren
Tang, Kiki Sheung, Michael Tse (謝天華), Ma Kwok-ming (馬國
明) and Leila Tong (唐寧) took part in a contest to buy the most
with $30 at the market. Going to the market and stretching
the budget to its limit is, in fact, one of the main duties of a
housewife.
(2) Taking care of the children –
keeping a close watch on the husband
It is a common worry among housewives that as they break
their back taking care of the family to the neglect of themselves, their husband may find them unattractive and swap
them for a prettier and younger partner.
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(3) Absolute devotion to the welfare of the children
In the drama, the housewives were kept busy all day attending to the needs of their children. This is also the life of a typical housewife – taking their children to and from school and
to extra-curricular activities, running around town trying to
get them a place in the best school.
(2) “See Lai” (師奶) is Hong Kong’s colloquial way of calling
housewives. This name carries negative connotations –
uncultured (沒文化), ignorant (無知), gossipy and nosy (八卦)
and narrow-minded (愛貪小便宜). Do you think such a label is
fair to housewives?
(3) What words would you choose to describe housewives?
Would you describe them as out of shape (肥胖), haggard (面
容憔悴), negligently attired (衣着隨便) or unkempt (蓬頭垢面)?
Why do they neglect their looks? Why do you think they
spend time and energy bargaining for a dollar or two?
(4) Have you ever asked your mother to “Turn on the TV for
me”, or “Iron the clothes for me”, or “Mama, help me with...”?
Do you think your mother is responsible for all the chores in
the house?
(5) Does the name “see lai” carry a positive or negative meaning
to you? Why?
Housewife in Hong Kong
A SURVEY commissioned by Radio Television Hong Kong on
the social status of women in Hong Kong interviewed in March
1,079 women between the age of 25 and 45. Respondents were
asked how they would describe the woman in the family and
their response included: “A dutiful wife and loving mother (賢
妻良母)” (40 percent); “Lo Ma Tze (old mother) (老媽子) (28.2 percent); and maidservant (工人) (23.1 percent) .
A minority of respondents jokingly referred to them as
“director” (董事長) , “automatic cash machine” (提款機) ,
“husband’s appendix” (老公附庸), “yellow faced lady” (黃臉婆)
and nagger (長氣袋) .
According to the survey, a happy mother is one who has
respectful or outstanding children and a loving husband. The
City University, which conducted the survey, said the debasing
labels given to the women at home should carry an issue needing further study.
Housewife – a million dollar a year job
A US website salary.com published results of a survey on the eve
of Mother’s Day, saying that if the multi-tasked job of housewife
is evaluated in commercial terms, it should pay an annual salary
equivalent to HK$1.1 million.
The value of the job, it said, has also appreciated by three percent last year. The report highlighted the fact housewives work
92-hour weeks, with 52 hours of overtime work on average. If overtime is taken into the account, the annual
salary should be even higher. The tasks of a typical
housewife comprise the jobs of a cleaner, babysitter,
security guard, teacher and chef.
Roles of the housewife
SCHOLARS on women’s status have pointed out
that since the late 18th century, the family has played
the role as the nurturing ground for children and a
safe haven (避風港) for its members. This notion has
taken root in Western middle-class culture (中產文
化), and the “ideal” family model is one in which the
man acts as the provider, discipliner and decisionmaker, and the woman takes care of household
chores, looks after the children and fosters harmony.
Such an external-internal (主外、主內) mode of
labour division in the family became widely accepted in
the 19th century, and was reinforced after the Second
World War when the dominant role of men as the main
breadwinner of the family was rationalised (合理化) by
the advent of automatic home appliances and higher
wages for men. Women were allotted a subsidiary role
in the working world and were subject to unfair treatment.
Choices and changes
IT is common for women nowadays to work outside the home.
Yet, many regret not being able to devote all their time and
energy to the children. But full-time housewives do not enjoy
financial autonomy, and may have a low self-esteem for feeling
cut off from society. There consititute a source of pressure for
modern day women.
On the woman’s role in the family and society, Henie Chui
Wai-yi (徐慧儀) of family support organisation Family Heartware
(家庭基建) has this to say:
“Let us discard the traditional roles we have imposed on
mothers through the ages, and give women the room to choose
the roles they like to play at various stages of their life.
“For those who do not enjoy staying home, they should go out
and excel themselves in the career world. Those who enjoy being
a housewife should continue to do so, if there is no financial
pressure to work. They may take part in volunteer work from
time to time. Some would choose to be a full-time mother when
their children are young, and to re-enter the working world after
the children have grown up.
“What is important is to give women a choice, and free them
from the shackles of imposed roles. Most importantly, of course,
is the encouragement of a supportive husband, who is willing
to take up his share of family responsibility and stand behind
the choices his wife makes.”
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