It’s no surprise to anyone living in America that the cost of childcare is obscenely high. On average, the cost of daycare for toddlers equates to about $1,200/month per child, which is unaffordable for most families. It is not uncommon for one parent to stay home until the children begin school. As a result of traditional gender roles, mothers tend to stay home while the fathers work.
The vast majority of Americans view being a stay-at-home mom as not being a “real job.” It is viewed as an expectation, unlike stay-at-home dads that receive praise for being so present. Both deserve praise, but there is definitely a double standard that pressures women into the role more than men. Women are expected to do invisible labor, which is essentially unseen and unappreciated work that goes into raising children and maintaining the household. For a capitalist society to prosper, workers need to be constantly supplied, which can only occur if women have enough children to replace herself and her partner. Mothers are also expected to raise the children and clean the house without requiring payment like a daycare worker or a maid would require. Mothers are consistently saving their own families thousands of dollars per year and supplying the next generation of the workforce, yet they are grossly undercompensated and underappreciated.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing to be a housewife or stay-at-home mom. As long as women have the choice to do so, they should practice whichever lifestyle makes them happy and most fulfilled. However, being a trad wife can be very dangerous. Most trad wives stay at home full-time and lack their own income. If they do not have an education prior to entering the traditional dynamic, they also do not have anything to fall back on if the relationship goes south. They lack a “real” job history since being a full-time mom/housewife is not perceived as work experience for employers. This results in difficulty finding a job and these women being financially dependent on their husbands. Without external support, it is way more complicated for them to leave if needed, especially if kids are part of the equation. This is a reason why abusive relationships were so prominent in America in the mid-1900’s; women were not allowed to open their own bank accounts without a male co-signer until 1974.
Capitalism does not want women to become financially independent. As women become more independent, it requires that invisible labor be pushed onto industries. This may seem capitalistic, but the expensive nature of childcare leads to consumers spending less money on non-essentials. Furthermore, women entering the workforce naturally leads to women either having children later on in life or not at all. This leads to declining fertility rates below the replacement rate, resulting in less young workers and global aging.
American capitalism doesn’t really work for anyone except for CEOs and the wealthy. It doesn’t seem to work for women or low-income families even more. Women should always have the right to choose whether or not to have children and enter the workforce or stay at home. Regardless of their choice, it is imperative for them to consider having an alternative safety net that allows them to be independent if needed to ensure their own welfare and happiness.