Do you think housewives should be paid?

Feb 22 2008

THE average housewife is said to work almost nine hours a day, seven days a week. If the same  hours were worked in another job it would warrant a salary of about £30,000. We asked people in Hamilton for their views on the issue.

Helen McPhee (54), from Bellshill, said: “People are paid to come in and clean your house for you or watch your kids, so it does only seem fair to pay housewives. It would be better for the kids if more mothers were able to stay at home and earn a living at the same time.”

Margaret Meikle (52), from Wishaw, said: “I don’t think housewives should get paid; more women should stay at home and then children might not be as bad as they are nowadays. I don’t think the Government should be paying for women doing housework. My views might be old-fashioned, but if a man is out working a woman should be in the home.”

William Newberry (56), from Wishaw, said: “It’s hard work looking after kids and doing the housework. I recently had to look after young kids when a family member was ill and I was surprised how my day flew in — just doing washing and sorting things out. The work they do really is not appreciated and it should be.”

Marion Harvey (44), from Motherwell, said: “Being a housewife is a full-time job that is very difficult and depressing at times. You don’t have any work colleagues and you can’t get out into the real world. But I think there would be riots in the streets if housewives were paid £30,000 — we all have to do housework at the weekend.”