Q&A Forum - August 2008 (Best of Elise)

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The economic realities of today’s society are that in most cases it takes two incomes to meet the financial needs of most families. The liberated and career woman of the twenty-first century might demand that her husband be a househusband家庭主夫 — a husband who keeps the house in the sense that he must do the majority of the housework, but she also expects her husband to have his own career, job or business so that he can contribute to the family budget. Some women would view a man’s suggestion that he stay at home to raise the kids as a man neglecting his financial responsibilities while putting more financial burden on the female bread-winner. More and more women are the bread-winners but that does not mean they are the sole financial providers.

Certainly there are those marriages where the woman makes enough that she has no need for her husband to work, thus she requires him to be her full-time househusband家庭主夫 — a husband who keeps the house and father to her children. However, these are the exceptions and not the rule. Perhaps a man can take off a few years while the child is between infancy and kindergarten to care for the child instead of using daycare. That is happening more and more in our society. But once the child (or children) begins to attend school, the male goes back into the workforce.