5 Comments

Being a sahm means most of my social contacts are from church. It makes me especially vulnerable to whatever social pressures there are in the church, including being a woman in a patriarchy. In some ways, I think if I had worked I could have just blithely ignored the men's club and got my own feelings of power and belonging in a work situation. Being a sahm cuts me off from all that, and leaves me dependent in some ways.

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This is a really good point--and it points to the complex reasons why so many women choose to stay.

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Another great episode. Thank you! I, like many women, chose to be a stay at home mom. Now that my kids are raised, I just want to voice how this choice had its good as well as bad. I loved being with my kids. This being said, the anxiety I felt on a daily basis, that if my husband left me, I would be in a very difficult situation without an education or work experience. This was a heavy burden. I felt like I had no power or control in my life and I handed it all over to my husband. That is a scary place to be for a woman. I was lucky. Not all women are. I have many, many friends whose husbands cheated and left them with nothing. This needs to be a wake up call for women. Protect yourself. Men shouldn’t hold all the power.

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We will honestly keep shouting this as often as we can because it is so dangerous for women to be this vulnerable. Putting all my financial eggs in my husband's basket was very risky. Like you, I have been lucky. thanks for you thoughtful comment.

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Same, same, same! I have loved my life. Also, I am keenly aware of the ways being a SAHM was a very risky choice that continues to limit my options now that I'm staring retirement in the face. This is a conversation I feel really invested in helping amplify within our church—men and women, because it definitely involves both. —Susan

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