Women's Work

I am a 'working woman', someone who has to work outside of the home for my daily bread. I'm single, so no husband, and it wouldn't be suitable for me to live at home at this point. I very much long to be at home, and married, and having children. But at the same time, I need to make sure that I'm not wasting the time I have now.

For me, the most important thing regarding work was to always do something that will help me become a better helpmeet and mother. I paid my way through a lot of uni by cleaning for friends who needed extra help around the house. I was always a good cleaner, but that helped me improve. I can even clean just as well with a toddler following on 'helping' me. The skills I learnt there will be of immense use when I have a family of my own to take care of.

I studied education at uni. Not so much so that I could teach other children, or even so that I could teach my own children, but so that when the government ups the restrictions on homeschooling (which they attempt to do every ten or so years here in Victoria) I'm not likely to have any problems.

I currently work in childcare. And that is actually very useful for me. I can feed thirty hungry 3-4 year olds at once (which is highly unlikely to ever happen in a family situation). I can read stories brilliantly. I can take the temperatures of children by hand and tell if they have a fever. I can change nappies with a kid standing, lying on a change table (which I hate) or lying on the floor. I know how to be consistent even with kids who I can't apply most forms of discipline to (as I hope to go into foster care, this will be important) and who have no boundaries at home.

In current times many women do need to work. Far, far less than who claim they do (most married women do not need to), but there are single women, single mothers, and other women who need to earn a living themselves for various reasons. But even for them, they can do things that help them become better helpmeets to their husbands (future or current), better mothers to their children, and more homecentred people.