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Well, my situation is a little different than some. I work and my husband is a stay-at-home dad (read: disabled/retired). We make have been married for almost 10 years.
We make decisions jointly and seperately according to our spheres of influence. For example, I do the scheduling (trips, doctors appts, etc) and he does the transport. I attend the parent-teacher and PTA events, he transports the children (and me!) back and forth to school. He makes decisions about the car and I write out the monthly bills. He does the dishes and I do the laundry. Really big decisions like where we are going to move when we buy our next house and what shcool to send the children to are made jointly.
We each have our own savings accounts, checking accounts and credit accounts but all of our money initially goes into our joint accounts. At times, we need to remember our agreements but it works out.
I would like to comment on the remark (Professor?) about the man being the head of the household. In theory, it sounds great but let's face it, some very good men make some poor decisions. Add that to the fact that many women earn more and may be more financially savvy than their spouses (who have other excellent qualities), it is not practical to allow the men to make some final decisions that may be detrimental to the overall well-being of the family. A smart woman knows when to defer to her man and knows when to put her foot down; a foolish one tries to always be in control or gives up control entirely or in the wrong arena.
There was another comment about sisters working and white women staying home and the conclusion about teamwork between the sexes. I beleive the conclusion was that sisters don't know how to let a man be a man.
To that, I say that I have more earning power than my husband so why shouldn't I work? Why should I sacrifice my family's standard of living simply because my husband wants to be the bread winner? Heaven forbid he gets laid off, ill or killed! Then where would me and my children be? Maybe running after some other man to take care of me and my 'baggage' - NOT!
Unfortunately, it looks like the pendulum has swung too far from women totally depending on a man (our mother's generation) to a woman not 'needing' a man at all (our genereation). Either is dangerous; we must know when to assert control and when to backoff.
Sorry I was so longwinded but this is something I am confronted with on a daily basis.
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