Can one impose an occupation upon oneself or one’s partner when no positive interest in this occupation is displayed? Can one co

In this part of the test, you will hear a short talk. You will hear the talk only once. While listening to the talk , you may take notes on the important points so that you can have enough information to complete a gap-filling task. Then write your answer in the corresponding space on your Answer Sheet. You will not get your Test Book until after you have listened to the talk.
   Can one impose an occupation upon oneself or one’s partner when no positive interest in this occupation is displayed? Can one come to terms with work that seems uncongenial or even menial? In today’s lecture, I shall present two opposite views on the role of women as housewives. It is no exaggeration to say that until yesterday and for most women even today, every wife may become a housewife. And this is not always a congenial role. So, let me illustrate this negative view with the following evidences:
   First, data indicate that, in spite of an absence of positive interest displayed in the domestic arts, a fairly large number of women arc drawn into housework as an occupation by marriage. No matter how it has been alleviated, housekeeping remains an uncongenial occupation and menial labor. Philip Slater once said ’The housewife is a nobody,’ and many agrees with this statement. Even more status-degrading is the unpaid nature of her job. Few people deny the economic as well as the sociological importance of housework and homemaking. Housework is part of the great infrastructure on which, as David Riesman has reminded us, the entire superstructure of the economy and the government rests. If women did not supply the services of taking care of the living arrangements of workers, industry would have to do so, as in the case of lumber camps, ships, and the military. But housewives are not in the labor force. They are not paid for the services that they perform.
   Second, housework is a dead-end job: there is no chance of promotion. One cannot grow in it. Not only does the wife not grow but the non-specialized and detailed nature of housework may actually have a deteriorating and alienating effect on her mind. Since her husband’s work is highly competitive and thus more prestigious, the wife is often left to feel inadequate. They do not share the same kind of problems.
   Moreover, as life is now organized in small, private living units, housework is isolating. Isolation has negative psychological effects on people. It encourages brooding: it leads to erratic judgments, and it renders one more susceptible to psychoses.
   Well, this is only one side of the story. Next, let me illustrate the positive view with the following evidences:
   It is argued that, in most Western societies at least, housekeeping is no longer menial drudgery or a form of unpaid labour for whoever does the work. Most homes are relatively easy to run and being a housewife and a house builder is an enriching experience.
   If the woman chooses to work more at home, or entirely in the home, then her share of the bargain is reasonable. She is the boss in her own four walls. She has no-one to tell her what to do. She has no anxieties over reaching a higher rank and no fear of unemployment. She is free to plan the daily routine to allow for time off, or for reading, or cultural and social activities, much more so than the worker in a factory or office. Her work is needed and appreciated by her family members.
   If the wife argues that her work at home is uninteresting, she should not forget that few workers, male or female, outside the home find every aspect of their work to their taste.
   As for the complaint that the domestic work in one’s own home is unpaid labour, it could be argued that whoever works in the home on a full-time basis, the husband or the wife, does not normally have to earn the money to support the family. The enjoyment of the children, the marriage relationship, the wider network of family and friends, and the respect or appreciation given by society through intangible rewards, are of greater value than cash.
   Thus, any housewife who is easily affected by a sense of injustice about the traditional occupation of wife, home-builder and mother, might well ask herself whether she is more imprisoned in her role than the working woman imprisoned in hers, which is to provide food, shelter and financial security and also contribute to running the home and bringing up children after a hard day’s work.(697)