By Dr Kouser Fathima
The term may surprise many but trust me professional housewives or PH are a reality. To start with, PH are qualified professional ladies who have taken an early retirement from their respective professions for various reasons.
Reasons such as transferable jobs of spouse, children’s stress or simple boredom. But wait, are they right in doing so or do they even have a right to do so?
Most of the time the PHs are given looks varying from surprise to sympathy & have to answer weird questions like why? Are you not bored? And some even go on to ask “Oh! Did you not finish your course?”
Initially, many get irritated by these questions but with time start enjoying them. Not only are we given strange looks, people assume we are locked in our houses by our “uncooperative” families. People are quite imaginative about our plight.
We have to put extra effort to remind all that it is our own voluntary decision, without any pressure & our poor husbands are not as evil as they are imagined to be. Many hold our spouses guilty, ready to pounce on them, sigh!
But why are we being judged for our decision? Have we signed for professional slavery for lifetime? As humans, we do have a right to take up or discontinue any profession. Is it a rule that if one is educated one should be working? So a women’s worth is measured not by her intelligence or talent but by her earning capacity?
Now this a new criteria to measure the worth of a women apart from the older. Is giving preference to family more than career such a big crime? There are also few men, who change their professions, wonder if they are also judged similarly.
On the contrary, they are hailed as innovative!
But wait, things are not as bad as the world thinks. Most PHs have utilised the time in going back to their other interests & some have also ventured into new avenues with quite a bang. Know many PHs who are successful artist, dancers, yoga enthusiast, bakers & few who are associated with various humanitarian causes. So sorry to disappoint the world but look around, one will find many PHs who are happy in their new roles.
So please stop giving us those sympathetic looks. We are not damsels in distress. This doesn’t mean we disrespect women who are pursuing their careers nor we discourage girls from pursuing their professional dreams. An educated and empowered girl is a boon to the society. So let us all be what we want to be.
And lastly, we have successfully finished our degrees so have no doubt about our professional capabilities.
“Be what you want to be, the world will adjust to the new you.”
(Dr Kouser Fathima is a Bengaluru based writer and can be reached at [email protected])