When I was small, housewives in Japan would sometimes take up small manual jobs which they could do at home. Taking in trousers and other simple garment repair would be one of the typical ones and they would do the work in between routine domestic work at home. One day my mother decided to take up such a job. She said that, although she wouldn’t be paid much, one of the ladies was inviting other workers to her home so all the ladies could work in each other’s company and my mother thought it would be good for her social life. And she also said that having a small amount of her own would be a little exciting thing.
Then my father and I said the same thing almost at the same time ‘How much money will you get?’ ‘Well, 10 yen for each pair of trousers taken in’. 10 yen is nit even 10 cents.
My father got mad and said ‘I can give you that money! I mean, have I ever made you feel uncomfortable to ask to buy things for yourself? Actually, I don’t even expect you to ask me if you wanna buy something for yourself!’ I was also in shock to find out how cheap the payment was. I felt terrible for my mother.
But she started going out few afternoons a week. Despite skepticism of the rest of the family, she seemed to be enjoying throughly. She was really enjoying the ‘sewing along’ afternoons with my friends’ mums. She was often getting interesting tips about whatever things and sometimes saucy gossips.
Full time housewives were always simple manual workforce in Japan (like many other parts of the world). The thing was, unlike part-time working housewives, full time housewives had less experience of ‘working’, therefore had less knowledge of laws and working conditions. They didn’t know values of their works and throughout their lives, they have always been expected, and managed to remain ‘sweet, kind and adaptable’. They’d work almost for free and still be happy to have some excuse for social life and money to buy cakes for such gatherings.
I imagine there may be less of full-time housewives in Japan. economy is no longer so good, so mums also gotta work. However, working conditions for part-time housewives are often bad and I see the same formula of exploitation and manipulation. Meanwhile where I live now, history and situations are different but I often come across examples of housewives being exploted. At local craft marjets, mums are selling beautifully crafted items so cheaply, being subjected to haggling or having their items snapped up by on-seller who’d probably use #craftmanship #sustainability on their instagram accounts. However, mothers are still sweet, kind and adaptable. They’d even say ‘Oh it’s only my hobby so if I can sell them for any money, I’d be happy..!’ One might argue that it’s their choice but what kind of people are they to disrespect the ladies while knowing the ‘commercial’ value of their work??
‘Woman in power suit’ ‘Businesswoman of the year’ are all good but kindness and adaptability is what the world need right now, not to be abused even if they don’t even realize or complain about.
