A Better Alternative for Working Women

Nobody wants to be poor, or to starve. If the alternative is grinding poverty or malnutrition, then it would be foolish not to work for a decent standard of living. But many people today are not working for their next meal, they are working for their second automobile, their stereo, their summer home-tearing their own souls apart in order to have certain material possessions.

This brings to mind some excellent common-sense advice that is over 2,500 years old. "Give me neither poverty nor riches." (Prov. 30:8) Just as poverty brings frustration, debasement and misery, the other extreme of too many material things can crowd more important values, such as the family, or the worship of God, out of one's life. If people are exhausting themselves to pay for a life-style that drains them of time for their loved ones, or interest in matters that refresh the human spirit-are they really any better off than persons oppressed by poverty?

Rather than fighting desperately to maintain a more affluent life-style you will probably be much happier if you let a few extras go and content yourself with a simpler way of life. In many cases, not working reduces a wife's work-related expenses. Hence, less belt-tightening is required than might have been anticipated, although this will vary.

Why not take advantage of the challenge to work together as a family to conserve, to reduce expenses? Psychiatrist Coles notes: "Parents forget that what children need perhaps more than anything is discipline and a sense of commitment to something larger than themselves. Children need to be asked of as well as given to." So why not include the children in family efforts to reduce unnecessary expenses, or to take better care of family possessions? A sense of family purpose and cooperation can be cultivated.

Where it is necessary for all in the family to pitch in to care for genuine family needs, doing one's part brings a sense of satisfaction. But the effect is quite different when getting a job reflects simply a spirit of restlessness or concern largely for self.

Real happiness does not come from earning enough money so that each adult in the family can have his own car. It is not having a TV or a stereo in your own room or being able to buy new clothing more freely that brings true contentment. Working together to reduce expenses can benefit the whole family.

Source: Working Women of Early Modern Venice - by Monica Chojnacka