Very few couples can afford to survive on one income in North America so most women still work after marriage in fact, only 9% of people live in a traditional nuclear family of two married parents with a wage-earning father and a full-time mother. However that doesn't mean that the ideal of the wife who devotes herself to taking care of her family is dead. With both parents working trying to lead a traditional life can be a challenge, it is possible but It really is about finding the right balance, and finding the right job.
Some careers are more suited for a traditional lifestyle than others and finding something that you like to do is the key to making it work, women need to be aware and conscious of this fact when looking for work. Obviously working from home would be ideal but it's not for everyone. I personally need a separation between work and home, which is why we own a business which gives me the ability to choose my hours.
A typical school day for our family starts at 6:00 AM my husband gets up showers and has coffee, make his breakfast, and then i usually get up just before he leaves, drink my own coffee and catch up with him before he leaves at 7:00. I tidy up and start making the kids breakfast and getting their clothes and backpacks and lunches ready to go. Wake up the kids at 7:30 and get them fed and ready to go to school for 8:45 then I drive home to have a shower and get ready to leave the house by 9:30 AM. I get to work at 10 AM and leave around 6 PM. The kids are at school from 8:45 till 2:45 pm our older son goes home and does his chores and homework, the younger one goes to after-school care until my husband picks him up at 4:30 pm. He usually gets home at about 4:30 pm, hangs out with the boys and I usually get him to start some part of dinner till I get home at 6:30 and start making dinner. We sit down to eat sometime around 7pm. After dinner, I start getting the kids ready for bed, get them showered, pajamas on, teeth brushed and put them in bed for 9 o'clock. Then I spend the rest of the evening tidying and prepping for the next day.
Although I say I run the store it is a family business and our goal has always been to be able to make enough profit that the store can be run full time on staff so I can have more time to stay at home and raise our children. At the same time, I strive to encourage my husband's career and build his business as well so that he can reach his goals. Women today earn only $0.76 compared to a man's wage, so really women should encourage their men to reach their goals, rather than attempt to achieve career goals for themselves.
It's hard to deny that women are biologically conditioned to play a nurturing and child rearing role. If I had the choice I would stay at home, but for now, all we can do is work towards our goals. In the beginning of the 20th-century women were regarded as societies guardians of morality, they were seen as possessing a finer nature than men. Their role was not defined as workers or moneymakers. "Then one self-righteous woman decided she wanted to be equal and now I have to get up at 6 AM and go to work"...Thx Feminism
Let me know if there are any other related topics you'd like me to discuss and thanks for reading.