Indeed, behind every successful man there is always a woman

Indeed, behind every successful man there is always a woman

Hey friends! This is, by definition, very true. Still just in case you doubt  it even a bit, go through this sui generis, but less talked about fact via this article. Hope you like it! There are many institutions, or rather, I should say, all institutions, that subjugate and marginalize women. But, dear friends, the most important institution that marginalizes women is the institution of “MARRIAGE”. One of the basic differences in the lives of the participating genders is in  their life-style, the nearly complete change in work that marriage brings in “HER” life but not in “HIS”. To make this point more clear let us begin with the very basic unit of our society called the “FAMILY”. We all know that in modern, urban societies, the nuclear family has been the most elementary form of household organization, and wage labor has been the most important source of family subsistence. Under these conditions, the great bulk of domestic work consists of the production of use values through the combination of commodities bought in the market and the domestic labor time. The goods and services produced contribute to the reproduction of the labor force and to its daily maintenance. Thus domestic work performs a crucial role for the functioning of the economic system. In the average household, this work is done by women and is unpaid. Women’s unique responsibility for this work, and their resulting weakness in the labor market and dependency on the male wage, both underlie and are products of asymmetric gender relations. husband and wife Taking clue from here, most women even today, post- marriage become housewives and trust me, this is not always a congenial role for not all women have an interest in or aptitude for the role of a housewife, which hitherto is taken for granted because of the mere fact that she was  born a female. The most status-degrading thing is the unpaid nature of her job. The low status of the wife’s work has ramifications all through her life. Since her husband’s work is not only high in status( because of the mere fact that it is paid) but usually competitive( as hers is not), his needs have to be catered to. This personal or institutional prestige his work confers, tends to put him in a position of status superiority to the wife. Apart from the household chores, in certain cases, wives also perform a variety of work for their husbands. Husband’s direct use of their wives’ work for occupational/direct exchange purpose is especially common when the husband is self-employed and runs his own business. While giving direct support to a husband in his occupation and other activities can be seen as specific to certain men in certain occupations, giving moral support and caring for his well-being is more widespread. And the most comfortable environment provided for a husband by a wife is based on her taking care of most of the household tasks. He is thereby fit for his occupational work and leisure and able to give them his undivided attention. So guys here comes the role of women, in general, and wife, in particular, to make a man successful in all spheres of his life. Salute to all women out for doing such tremendous work, day in and day out, unconditionally and without fail. This brings me to the end of this article by concluding that our generation is so busy trying to prove that women can do what men can do, that women are losing their uniqueness. All women out there, we were not created to do everything that a man can do. Rather, we were created to do everything “A MAN CAN’T DO”!

———— ABOUT THE AUTHOR: This article is written by Sargam Kumar.

Ishita Kapoor

Ishita Kapoor