Housewives to get monthly salaries from husbands.

[Crookbond]

How much will you pay for the homemaker? http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/how-much-will-you-pay-for-the-homemaker/article4017241.ece

Ever since I read the news that the government is planning to get a law passed for paying housewives, I have been thinking about how much of the house work resembles work in the corporate sector. Much before multitasking entered the corporate world, the housewife — or better still the homemaker — has been donning several hats. While it does feel good to hear that there is some recognition coming in the form of pay, one wonders how the benchmark will be fixed. If the pay is a percentage of the salary earned by the man of the house, this would turn out to be the only industry which will have a huge disparity in pay. All housewives have similar responsibilities. But the lucky ones whose husbands earn higher are better placed in terms of getting paid help or appliances that help in discharging their chores. To start from the very beginning, the recruitment process which culminates in marriage itself is flawed as the objectives are not set clearly. There are no agreed evaluation processes or, for that matter, not even clear reporting lines. There is always this dotted line relationship with the mother-in-law which sometimes takes precedence over the direct reporting line, the husband. The fringe benefits — an occasional dinner in a restaurant, a movie, a well-deserved vacation, a dress or jewels — do not come at regular intervals. The leave policy is the worst, work is 24X7. This is the only place where the leave has to be approved not only by those above you but those below too. The maid, the cook, the driver, the milkman, the paper boy, the ironwallah, all have to be informed and it has to be ensured that everything continues smoothly. The only instance where a parallel can be drawn with a corporate is — just as how the hard working ones end up working more, the homemakers with brilliant culinary skills end up entertaining guests during weekends too. In most cases, there are no annual health checkups, these happen only when there is need when one of the supposedly unbreakable internal systems fails. There are no awards for ‘the best employee of the month or the year.’ There are no increments or incentives for good work. The performance evaluation is not a yearly or half-yearly exercise, it happens all the time. The feedback comes from different quarters, again quite often. Sometimes, these could be so contradictory that one is left wondering which is the right way to proceed. There is no retirement and hence no pension. While it is fun to think, write and read about this, on a serious note, it would be more of an insult than recognition, and the homemakers will still gladly accept this insult only if it means tax saving for the husband and thereby some extra money which again will go into spending for the family! Long live the homemakers clan!!

[Rohit S. Ambani]

Indian men are already most abused, 1 out 4 divorcee men tend to commit suicide, 1 out of 10 divorcee women commits suicide. Pressure is already too much on Indian men.

[DomainK]

Indian men are already most abused' date=' 1 out 4 divorcee men tend to commit suicide, 1 out of 10 divorcee women commits suicide. Pressure is already too much on Indian men.[/quote'] Divorce laws across the country are idiotic. So much so that the man completely breaks down financially after a divorce where the wife gains a lot. The law is largely responsible for the creating of the profession of gold diggers - legal robbers.

[India-KXIP fan]

Indian men are already most abused' date=' 1 out 4 divorcee men tend to commit suicide, 1 out of 10 divorcee women commits suicide. Pressure is already too much on Indian men.[/quote'] Interdasting, definitely problem with divorce law as guy above pointed out.

[Sachin=GOD]

GOVT PUTTING PRICE ON MOTHER'S LOVE?

The Government is considering a bizarre proposal to give doles to housewives for their toil at home. But the proposal, which would reduce housewives to the status of salaried workers, has drawn sharp criticism from women activists. Making a fresh bid for the Bill proposing “honorarium” for housewives, Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath has shot off letters to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) and Labour Ministry to “recognise and make visible the full extent of work of women.” In a letter dated May 6, Tirath wrote to Minister of State in Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Srikant Kumar Jena to quickly make available reliable datasets on the number of housewives. In order to evaluate their “salary,” she also wants to know about the number of hours they devote to household chores. “I understand that a pilot survey is being undertaken in two States in India on this theme, and I request you to expedite the process and share the report for our consideration,” reads the letter. Tirath also requested Jena to recognise the labour put in by homemakers under 92-93 NSSO activity codes (engaged in domestic duties). Last year, in September, the Women and Child Development Ministry had first proposed this Bill by which a percentage of the husband’s salary would be compulsorily transferred to his wife’s account for all the unpaid domestic work. According to the proposal, this part of the husband’s salary would not be taxed. Tirath had also vociferously said that this move would give women the much-needed “monetary empowerment” which they deserve for the domestic activity they undertake. In a separate letter to Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, Tirath wrote: “In India, the data on the work of the poor, and particularly of poor women, is inadequate. The grounds for exclusion of such work (domestic work) from national statistics suggest that these services have limited repercussions on the rest of the economy and it is difficult to impute monetary value of these services.” Seeking Kharge’s intervention, Tirath wrote: “I request you to look into the need for gender sensitive labour policies which would promote gender equality in our country.” This proposal has evoked very strong reactions from women activists. “This is a very strange idea. I would hate to see my mother being compensated for making the house a home. She is the real owner, the real homemaker and the real distributor in the house,” said Kiran Bedi, social activist and a retired Indian Police Service officer. “Instead of paying honorariums and demeaning their work, the Women and Child Development Ministry should work on ways to make them more independent. They should open more vocational colleges, polytechnics or encourage entrepreneurship by helping them with easy loans,” said Bedi. “It is truly disconcerting to hear about such a proposal. At the end of the day, a woman’s work at home cannot be quantified with money,” said Geeta Bhardwaj, co-director, Jagori, an NGO working for the cause of women. “Women and Child Development Ministry should be working on ways of giving the homemakers opportunities to actualise their potential rather than be given a percentage of the husband’s salary. This might lead to fights and distrust,” she said. “Clearly, very little thought has been given to the poorer sections of society where men earn less than Rs100 a day. How would they honour such a commitment? They (poor) don't have a taxable income, how would the State ensure a steady inflow of cash into women's accounts. The implementation of this law will be one of the biggest questions,” said Sambhavi Singh, communications and outreach associate at Feminist Approach to Technology (FAT), an NGO working towards making women technologically sound. “The State should try and forge new ways to create more avenues for women’s employment than devise ways to push them back into the four walls of the home. They must ensure strong support systems for women who work outside so they are not burdened with the dual responsibility of home and work,” she said.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/todays-newspaper/govt-putting-price-on-mothers-love.html

[Holysmoke]

:facepalm:

[Clarke]

Yeah, our mahaan sarkar has done a great job in eliminating female infanticide, dowry abuse & murders, sexual abuse and rapes so its logical to create another bunch of laws that the mahaan armed militia known as the police & the efficient judiciary can enforce upon us.

[Muloghonto]

There is merit to th point that this makes the wife subservient to the husband rather than being an equal partner. Rather than this ...the law should make both partners joint owner of all property and wealth earned during the married life irrespective of who earned what and on whose name the property was bought or registered.This removes the gender bias also.

Totally unfair to the income earner if they have to split income. Think on what it means for top end income earners. Why should I, Ratan tata, have to give millions of dollars per year ? Its ratan who is doing the work, his wife in no way shape or form deserves equal pay that amounts to tens of millions per year. Also, if i am a lawyer, engineer, doctor or any professional who is earning 100K+ a year, why should someone else get to deciede what to do with half my money ? The wife getting 50% or something similar in case of divorce is a different matter,as it involves a one time severance package. But it is simple gold-digging if wives get to have half my earned income on a regular basis despite having contributed nothing towards earning that income.

[Muloghonto]

Why? It is gender neutral.If both parties work...the earning and wealth is shared irrespective of who earns what.If one partner stays home to look after family, then too it is a just arrangement irrespective of whether the man or the woman decides to stay. I think the inherited property of both should be kept out of the arrangement with the spouse getting a share only as natural transfer after the death of one of the spouse if stated in her/his will.Every thing earned and accumulated during the marriage should be equal.

Basically what beetle is advocating is gold digging. Open your legs, get half the income. The wage earner can be docked pay for being late, absent, tardy or incompetent. On what basis should we dock the one getting free money ? Being in love/sharing the life of someone doesnt entitle you to sharing their wealth equally. Or else why marry for anything but money ? Simple plan would be to find someone 5x richer than yourself and marrying them, therfore you get to be a gold digger who always profits.

[Muloghonto]

I am sure most reasonable adults can work out the arrangement on their own.This I guess is for people who can't do it on their own. In reply to the bold part of your statement..... Do you mean you both will continue to have your and her money seperate and contribute only to common needs.?That seems so sad. :((What happened to shared dukh sukh and everything else?:sniffle:

shared dukh-sukh becomes a whole lot harder to believe when there's a shared wallet involved with your so-called 'dukh-sukh ka saathi', that happens to favor the 'dukh-sukh ka saathi' by 2:1 or better (if i am a huge income earner and my partner isnt). If your hubby has to pay you half his income and you happen to earn far less than him, trust me, he wont think for very long that you are his 'dukh sukh ka saathi'. It may be tomorrow, it may be 5 years or it may be 15 years- depending on couple- but it will be one day that your hubby will believe that it is paycheque, nothing more keeping you pretending to be interested in him. When you involve money, its bound to happen. You cant have it both ways. Either you are a breeding,cooking,cleaning and pleasure factory at my beck and call, which entitles you to getting trinkets of your desire or you are an independent woman who can carry her own weight through life without my handouts. Pick one. You cant be the independent equal kept woman who gets half my money. That makes no sense.

[CSK Fan]

Indian men are already most abused' date=' 1 out 4 divorcee men tend to commit suicide, 1 out of 10 divorcee women commits suicide. Pressure is already too much on Indian men.[/quote'] No way, those numbers seem too high. 1 out of four men commiting suicide? I know few divorcee men who are happy. Links please?

[CSK Fan]

Divorce laws across the country are idiotic. So much so that the man completely breaks down financially after a divorce where the wife gains a lot. The law is largely responsible for the creating of the profession of gold diggers - legal robbers.

Agreed. I have heard divorce laws in US are equally bad.

[Raghav_12]

Agreed. I have heard divorce laws in US are equally bad.

No. Indian divorce or matrimonial dispute laws are worst in the world for husbands. In case of many indians living abroad, say US, it is common trend that husband would file for divorce in US and wife would come back to India and would file divorce here.

[superstar]

Insulting women...

[1983-2011]

1/3 of husband's salary after tax and all other costs including house hold costs and expenditure on off springs