Why Are Working Women Told That They Have An Option To Quit? Are We Working Just For Pocket Money?

Why are working women told that they have an option to quit, whenever they talk about the ups and downs of their job? Do CEOs have the option of quitting?

Just because my husband is working, it doesn’t take away my right to have a professional ambition in life or make it easy for me to to just quit on bad days.

After having spent so many years as a working professional, I have seen a common mentality among few people, that women/girls work just for their pocket money and they have an option of quitting to work any day. I don’t know if all my female friends would agree to this or not, but I have been hearing this statement many times by different people, at different places of work and at different situations.

When I joined work as a fresher, I heard few people saying “Sohini, you have a choice of quitting after marriage, anyway your husband would be earning right.” Once I got married I heard the same thing about having an option to quit post having children. Now that I have a child and still continue to work, and sometimes discuss about the issues in getting a help at home for taking care of the baby while I am away, or if at times I am irritated with my boss, or I don’t like some policies in office, I hear the same old sentence “Sohini, you have an option to quit, but we can’t do that.” And all this from some of my male colleagues to be precise.

I am not sure of the reason for making such a sentence by anyone but I am surely not in favor of hearing such a thing at every step. Being a female doesn’t snatch away the right to be career-oriented. Being married and having children doesn’t take away the right to aim high in your career. Just because my husband is working, it doesn’t take away my right to have a professional ambition in life and give me an option to quit any day. If I have a problem with a person in office or the office as a whole I have an option to join a different one which suits my professional as well as personal requirements and ambitions, but quitting work is definitely never in my wish list.  I believe in doing what I love and letting people do what they love.

I am sure all the lovely ladies who decide to be homemakers are doing so because they love doing it. If at times, they are irritated because they have too many things to do at home, how many of you would go and tell them anyway your husband is there to take care of the household chores so you have an option to quit doing these? Or for that matter, many of my friends who are working, have to go back home and do everything on their own, and when they are tired and worn out after work, how many of you go and tell her that anyway you have your husband so you have the option of quitting to do all these any day, he will take care.

All the homemakers, if they are irritated because they have too many things to do at home, how many of them can say that husband is there to take care of the household chores so you have an option to quit doing them?

I guess what is lacking here is the respect for the female gender in the minds of many. Yes I agree its a taboo to believe that the male earns the bread and butter and the female takes care of the house. But people, don’t you think we have come a long way from all these and we have explored a lot? So having such thoughts not only makes you look like an idiot in front of many but shows how inferior you feel when you compare yourselves with the female counterpart who is able to manage both with the same efficiency and without complaints!

Image via Shutterstock.

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Sohini Mukherjee

Logically Intelligent.. Occassionally Beautiful... Thoughtfully Funny.... A daughter, a sister, a wife, a parent, a friend, above all a person who loves to dream... Life's moto is to see the world... I believe in read more...

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