I yearn to be appreciated here and now.
I yearn to be remembered today and not paid tributes to after I am gone.
I yearn to not be used, misused and abused.
I yearn to be not told what I did not do but to be helped if I missed something.
I yearn for some unconditional love not because I cook, clean and earn but because I am important to you.
I yearn to be treated as a human being with real feelings and not as furniture.
I yearn for the day when the word homemaker will not be tossed at me as an abuse or an insult. I have feelings, am intelligent and smart. Just because I don’t work for money, it does not mean that my work is any less important.
I yearn for acceptance and respect both from men and women!
I yearn for silence.
I yearn for a real holiday without obligations, work or responsibility.
I yearn to rediscover the real me!
A piece of fiction inspired by the angst of housewives or homemakers in our society who are ill treated and judged!
Pic courtesy: Freedigitalphotos.net
Ahhh. you have touched a raw chord. Judged oh yes, every day, every second.
Good post
Every woman is a homemaker even the ones who work for money. Yet this work is treated so shabbily and is given no respect. Sad!
Lovely Post! Your piece says it all. This must be true for so many hohomemakers. I know that I couldn’t have been a stay at home mum, if my husband had ever treated me as less than important just because I am a homemaker, but I’ve seen this amongst so many others. And some of the women I know, long to take a break because everything is so overwhelming, but they can’t because of the unequal relationship with their husbands. One day…
I know Smitha! And not all women are treated as worthless. But society at large does not accord much importance to the work done in building a family and home sadly. Thanks for the comment.
Wonderful lines! And very true as well!
Thanks Naba!
Very nice. First time seeing poetry from you.
Wow, and I thought I was penning prose :). Thanks!
Beautiful lines that every woman can relate to….we are born to yearn and yearn and yearn…until the society changes, we yearn for the freedom.
Pankti, thank you so much for your visit. And you are absolutely right.
Thanks a lot for sharing this and i completely agree with you on this. Housewives get the wrong treatment lots of times when contribution is no less than others. Keeping household running smoothly is not an easy job by any means. This ill treatment is result of male chauvinistic thinking which exist in our society. I feel bad for those women who does not get appreciation for honest efforts.
I wish more women were supportive of other women. Women and men both are responsible for this condescending attitude towards homemakers. Thanks for visiting majaal!
So true. Homemakers never get the credit they deserve and always are taken granted for even if she starts earning frokm home with a small start up her work never gets the same respect from other members of the family as an traditional job would get.
Yes, I have seen that too, Yamini. I am a work-from-home mom and often I have seen people sneer and downplay the work I do because it is not a traditional job. So very silly really.
The homemaker is she who does everything, makes the house a home and yet nobody notices what she does. She continues to slog for her family. Sad!
True that Bhavya! Sad truth of our times. Thanks so much for reading and commenting.
Super, Rachna. Captures the angst so well!
Thanks Srini!
We all put labels on people and slot them into certain categories. Homemaker or housewife is another such label. I believe the treatment meted to housewife is so unfair. You have written about the desire of every housewife who are never given the due credit for the work they put in to making a house a home.
Agree Vinita; we are in a rush to slot people. And homemakers since time immemorial have been getting a raw deal from both men and women.
Rachna this is a thought provoking post. You are correct and also unfortunate that some women are treated like ‘furniture ‘Women should be given a place of honour and respect at home and society at large.
Thank you Ushaji! We need women to stand up for other women and need to teach our men to respect women as well.
True that Rachna!! Every Stay-at-Home-Mom can relate to this. Sometimes the insults are hurled within the family but often from outside. But you have take the remote control of your feelings away from other people and always remember why you stayed home in the first place. Wrote something similar a while back but of course not as poignant as yours http://www.themomviews.com/dont-judge-a-stay-at-home-mom/
So true Swapna! We learn to deal with the antagonism and the sneers. Thanks so much for your comment. Will hop over to your post!
Wow. Very well expressed, Rachna. Thoughtful.
Thanks Vinay! Glad you liked the post.
Very true Rachna! Housework being belittled every single day and dismissed as unimportant is ever so common ..sad but true.
It is terrible, Sharmila. Wish this mindset changes.
Spot on! Yearning is a start. Hopefully the generation growing up now will be more understanding than the previous. And the next even better. Poetry in Prose. 🙂
Thanks so much Jyothi! Yes, especially in India, we need to inculcate dignity of labor and respect.
Rachna, homemaker or not , a woman is always judged. If you work from home you are judged differently, if you work fulltime elsewhere, you are judged by 50 other men and women around you. If you are a mom and work fulltime, you are judged even more. “what kindof mom leaves her kid and goes to work”, look at her home so messy, look she wakes up at 10 on weekends… ” 🙂 basically, you are judged if you are a woman, and since donkey years we have been considered as the weaker sex, period.
Good writeup! 😉
Yes, women are always judged :). I find it rather stupid that even women judge and belittle other women, Poonam!
Yes, I yearn ….for this and more….love each of your lines….
Thanks sweetie!
Really well-written Rachna! I must say though…as women, we are damned if we do & damned if we don’t. Working women with families cop a different kind of judgement. I yearn for a day when women will stop being judged for every single thing!
Thank you Psych Babbler! I agree women are always judged. I wish that this judging would stop.
How true! We do keep judging all people by yardsticks that mean nothing. This looking down on home-making by women as well is the saddest part and an unfortunate corollary of the battle of equality for the sexes. Feminism should be about availability of choices to women – to dictate what choice a woman ought to take is as constricting as Male chauvinism.
Btw, how about a couple of lines for the poor unemployed stay-at-home male 🙂 I am as self-centered as the next guy and want some tears expended on me as well 🙂
Agree Suresh! Feminism should be about choice and not about forcing some set notions for empowerment down women’s throats.
This unemployed stay-at-home male does it out of choice and because he has worked hard earlier to sustain himself later. I can’t imagine anything but respect for your life choices. Those who can’t see that are idiots and must not be bothered with :).
One day Women will be acknowledged as equals! Hugs, Rachna. Very well done. A theme so close to my heart!
Thanks Vidya! Hugs back to you. Some day and that day is worth dreaming of.
Very legitimate yearnings.The endeavour should be to create such a climate where such yearnings should not occur in mind.Nicely written
Absolutely true, KP sir! And thanks!
Lovely poem. Homemakers are the most unappreciated ! I wonder if anyone has thought what would happen if the homemakers cease to function even for a day !
Yes, we all are guilty of taking our moms for granted. I know I did. And then the house ceases to function once they are gone. Just their entire loving care and doing things perfectly.
Very true. And really a thing that most of us yearn for.
Haven’t we all been through it and facing it regularly?
This truly represents the life and the plight of most home-makers. Sad but true.
Hope a day comes when she is able to live without being judged at every step and is able to liver her life on her own terms!
True Shilpa! Hope such a day comes.
I would say I yearn for contentment. So that I don’t yearn for anything more.
Classic! I yearn for contentment too. But contentment comprises so many things and that is the crux of the problem.
I too yearn for few things in this post. 🙂
hehe I knew the post was lacking on many counts so your yearning is justified Saru:-).
There are homes where the home maker is definitely given due respect and love Rachna . It’s very important that the person herself does not lower herself in her own eyes and keeps up the self esteem ! That would ensure that she is not taken for a ride
You are right, Jaish! And there are people and homes who just pass snide remarks as well.
good one rachnaji.no wonder u r a famous blogger:)
I am not famous at all. Just a few friends like you read me and make me feel good, Ramesh :).
That was beautiful! What you wrote could so be the unspoken words of many homemakers out there who yearn to be treated equal,to be acknowledged, accepted.
Wonderful post!
Thanks so much Deeps! I see this yearning in many homemakers and in women in general.
I agree that housekeeping is a thankless job.The family fails to notice how much effort goes into making a home that runs on oiled wheels.
Many women undergo a lot of humiliation or scorn too either from uncaring partners or from outsiders.
But even when the family appreciates her efforts it fails to say so aloud.How nice it would be ,to be told”You run the home magnificently.
Yes Indu! It is a thankless and monotonous job especially cleaning. And everyone wants it done but hardly thinks much about it. Often, you are equated with a maid. And yes, there are so many of us who appreciate what our moms do but as you pointed out hardly say it out loud or often enough.
Touching and emotional!
Love each line 🙂
Thank you so much 24 hr. And welcome here!
Perfectly put, Rachna. Every woman is a homemaker in one way or the other. The world would be a living hell if mothers decided to call it quits in the kitchen and home. I really admire my mother for being the awesome mother, wife and homemaker she is. Such a nicely penned one, this. 🙂
Thank you DC. I admired my mother too but I doubt if I told her often enough or if she knew my admiration. Perhaps, I have more respect for her now that I have a home to run.
It is very thought provoking.But,I still maintain that girls must stand up and get counted.In no way is any woman weak.
KOSHISH KI ZAROORAT HAI
That part is always true!
I wait for the day, when some women would stop saying, ” I am just a housewife”. Why are they willing to put themselves down, I cannot understand, do they really believe what they are doing is not up to the mark in their own eyes?
If a woman is confident with herself, no one can dare to ask her what does.
When people do ask me what I do, I just look at them point blank and say:I do nothing, I am enjoying life”. That really shuts them up, for there are some people, to whom it is not worth wasting our time explaining what we really do.
This is the story of so many women in our country. I wish we stop talking people for granted.
Very sad, really!
But why is this labelled as a piece of fiction? It is the truth and is happening all around us. But the first step should somehow come from the woman herself. If she respects herself, the others have to fall in line. And we women are fully capable of that, aren’t we?
The disclaimer is there because I have friends who worry a lot about me :). Yes, the step should be taken by the woman first. But whether she takes it or not depends upon so many factors. Often they just are not able to remove the cobwebs from their own thinking. So happy to see you here.