A housewife is a married woman who takes care of the household and is not employed outside of the home.
In several TV programs I have seen ladies answering the question “what do you do?” – “I am not doing anything, I am a house wife” or “I am just a housewife”. Some of the modern woman say “I am a home maker”. It is not all easy or simple to be a “House Wife”.
Housewife is actually the Queen of the home as she takes care of everything in the house and manages everything on her own. It is an enormous task to be a “house wife” as she has to handle several relationships – children; husband; parents, parents-in-law; brothers and sisters; brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. She has to do a lot of balancing act and be very tactful and at the same very watchful. She has to cater to the differing demands of different people at home and still be cheerful at all times.
The basics of Business Management talks about Planning, Organising, Motivating and Communicating. A successful Business Manager is one who is very good at these principles of Management. Every “House wife” exhibits these business principles in the day to day life and they actually excel in all of them.
When a girl gets married and migrates to the new house she quickly adapts to the living conditions. I remember the lines from an old tamil song “மனம் இருந்தால் பறவை கூட்டில் மான்கள் வாழலாம் வழி இருந்தால் கடுகுக்குள்ளே மலையை காணலாம்” .
The “House Wife” starts her day much ahead of the others and is the last one to go to bed. She works tirelessly throughout the day and probably relaxes for a short while in the afternoon to take a nap or to watch a TV Programme. The most preferred TV Programme for a “House Wife” is either on Cooking or on Religion. They also find time to learn about the developments in the society and in general news on national and international issues.
The “House Wife” is fully aware of the procedure involved in getting Gas Connection; Telephone Connection; paying bills for Telephone, Electricity, Water, Property Tax, etc. She is familiar with the banking process and is comfortable operating a bank account or to operate a Safety Locker in the Bank.
She takes on the role of a caretaker for the elders at home. She plays the role of a teacher for her children. She plays the role of an advisor for her husband. She remembers the birthdays of all the family members. She remembers the nakshatram, gothram, rasi, etc., of every member of the family. She takes care of every single member of the family and meticulously plans every activity at home. “உண்ணும் அழகை பார்த்திருப்பாயே, உறங்க வைத்தே விழித்திருப்பயே, கண்ணை இமைபோல் காத்திருப்பாயே”
In her busy schedule of taking care of so many relationships some times (many a times) she forgets to look after herself. I am reminded of some of the classic lines of tamil film songs – “வாழை போல தன்னை தந்து த்யாகி ஆகலாம்” “உறுகி ஓடும் மெழுகை போல ஒளியை வீசலாம்”.
The house wife is the epitome of “multi tasking”. The toughest role that the house wife plays is that of a “wife”. The great “Kannadasan” wrote in one of the old tamil films “”வேரென நீ இருந்தாய் அதில் நான் வீழ்ந்து விடாதிருந்தேன்” “என் தேவையை யார் அறிவார் உன்னை போல் தெய்வம் ஒன்றே அறியும்”. These two lines of Kannadasan sums up the relationship of husband and wife and highlights the great role that a wife plays in the life of a man.
I feel a “House Wife” is the best business manager as she has all the qualities that are required for a good business manager. I feel every business should hire a “house wife” as their business unit head. I do not know how many “house wife” are ready to leave the home and start taking care of a business. If the “House Wife” cannot come and play the role of business manager then it is better that business managers learn a few lessons from the “House Wife”
As business managers if we can emulate what our mother, wife, sisters do at home then we can be very successful at work. They are the best examples to learn all management principles. The “House Wife” demonstrates excellent time management skills; Organising skills; motivation; excellent communication skills; multi-tasking; people management skills; leadership qualities; budgetary control; internal audit; accounting; finance…. basically “A to Z”of business management.
Every “House Wife” should feel proud of being a “Home Maker”.
T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
18th July 2010
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