A Mother’s Home Is Her Castle: In Favor of Homemakers

• Post by: Rafael Hurtado
• April 12, 2023

Second-wave feminism, which expanded rapidly in the late 1960’s, declared open war against the family home and its traditional values. In the traditional home, the husband-father was the primary breadwinner and protector of the household, while the housewife-mother was the primary homemaker and caregiver of their children. Together, in a marriage, they were considered the foundational economic unit of society, one based on sex differences and intergenerational responsibilities. Alternatively, what later became known as radical feminism (espoused by Betty Friedan, and honoring Charlotte P. Gilman and Simone de Beauvoir) played a determinant role in the diminishing of the image of the mother as a homemaker who decided to put aside a professional career. The feminist juggernaut struck the family nucleus first, while the new image of the “liberal woman” was promoted. This woman would not prioritize husband and children over career, but put in the center of her aspirations the emerging professions in the new labor market. In order to accomplish such goals, feminists concluded that the traditional family structure would have to change. The homemaking mother must be freed from domesticity. The key to feminist success lies in the notion that the homemaker should see herself as a parasite, a vestige of the patriarchal era who would spend her days doing infantile activities, as Hanna Arendt stated.[1] This thesis was validated by many intellectuals, who labelled the family home a “comfortable concentration camp.”[2] Massive cultural changes—including the sexual revolution—derived from such radical criticism, and the industrialized societies in the West were the first to embrace this new liberal ideology. A new social norm arose in which men and women would share their responsibilities in the family home and society alike according to a 50-50 standard. More recently, third-wave feminism is often seen as a more diverse movement, more compatible with pro-life