Some social scientists view that mothers who stay home and engage themselves in family upkeep are able to do much more to a family than those working mothers are able to.

• To what extent do you agree or disagree with this view?

There was a time when mothers were just homemakers. Times have changed, and today motherhood has gone out of the four walls of the home. This makes me think that working mothers are able to do much more to a family.

The one and only thing that makes me contradict the view of social scientists is that today, family is much more a collective institution of man, woman and children than a man-made social unit. In such a set up, I do not think mothers need to stay back home 24x7.

Let me cite an example to prove this point. Today, children start to attend school when they are hardly two years, and their mothers are highly educated, enterprising and willing to earn on their own, and there are opportunities everywhere to make their time more productive either for themselves, or for their family or for the community at large. So working mothers can work wonders in terms of family welfare.

On the other hand, if all mothers think that staying home all day is going to turn their families into envious social units, they are grossly mistaken. Cost of living is going through the roofs, educated women are going to be mere child bearers and caretakers, and their better halves, men, are going to bear the whole brunt of making both ends meet. Such a state of affairs is not at all encouraging.

So where are we? Things with regard to family have undergone great changes, and husband and wife are equally important players. Full time mothers, on the other hand, are not going to do much good to any family these days. I hope social scientist may excuse!

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Jaypeesdoc. 18.11.011