Why Should The Burden Of Family Income Fall Solely On Men?

Handling a family's finances is not an easy task and certainly not a single person’s job. And yet our society is conditioned to believe that men alone are capable of handling money. Men are conditioned or rather pressurised to earn a living so that they can provide for every small need of the family. But is it fair to put all the burden of earning family income on a single person? Why does society discourage women from being equal earning partners?

Handling the expenses of a family becomes easy when more than one person is in charge. While some households have multiple men to fulfil these financial needs, what is wrong if women too contribute to it?

Most people today live in nuclear setups where one man has to endure the burden of an entire family’s financial needs. The pressure to succeed at work and earn a hefty paycheck, both to get their family's approval and that of society can lead to mental health issues among men. The dependence of the entire family on one man automatically reduces his independence. He is not able to save enough money, invest in himself or change his career if he is unhappy. Life becomes difficult, monotonous and uninteresting.

But in this scenario, just put in working women as partners of men providing for the family. Does the scenario now look better? Or let's rephrase, balanced?  If a woman starts contributing to and sharing the financial burden of a man, not only do the financial needs of the family get fulfilled each partner feels less stressed. If both men and women in the house are earning, the financial burden is shared enough to maintain a balance between familial and personal needs.

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Moreover, if women earn and contribute to the family’s financial needs, they will be valued more in the house. Family members would recognise women’s talents and value their opinions and choices.

Encouraging women to contribute to the financial needs of a family breaks the stereotype that earning is just a hobby for them. It will also break the norm that using women’s money for financial needs is a matter of shame for the family or the male head of the family. Women's earnings are either seen as their pocket money or not taken seriously enough to consider it as a part of family income.

Treating their earnings as an equal part of the family income normalises the fact that women's careers and paychecks are as valuable as those of men.

When there are so many benefits of considering working women in the house as partners in the family’s finances, can we not overcome&t=181s"> gender biases? Can we not unlearn the regressive stereotype that earning is not a woman's role but cooking and cleaning are? Women anyway contribute to the betterment of the family by doing unpaid labour. Then what is the issue if they get paid for their labbour so that they can provide support to the family?

Views expressed are the author's own.