Salary.com, a Waltham, Massachussettes-based firm that studies workplace compensation in all fields across the nation, apparently recognizes the financial value of a mother, whether she is working at home full-time or also works outside the home.
In fact, they have a handy personal salary calculator you can use to assess the financial value of your work. The calculator takes into account the city and state in which you live as well as hours worked in a variety of different capacities.
According to the calculator, if I were financially compensated for all I do, the high range of my salary is $215,691.
Salary.com has the option to print a “check” with an itemization of the cost-breakdown for compensation. I’m printing mine and keeping it in my organizer for those days when I feel that I’m not worth anything to the gross-domestic-product. (I know I’m worth plenty to my family.)
I’m tempted to answer the next person who says to me “So you’re just a housewife” or “So you just stay home” with “I’m actually a professional family manager with a financial worth of six figures annually, in addition to my freelance work as an editor.” Why shouldn’t I?
I have a dear friend who is going through a divorce…over two decades of marriage to an abuser who is now claiming she should get nothing in the settlement because she stayed home with the kids and did nothing but spend all the money. (She homeschooled in addition to maintaining the household while he traveled the nation on business…yeah, she did “nothing.”) She has a bachelor’s degree but hasn’t been employed since the children were born. Every employer and even her own attorney have stated her time at home is worth nothing.
What is wrong with our society here?
And what is wrong with us that we are permitting this mindset to continue?
My personal thought is, it doesn’t matter if you are a feminist, a conservative, religious, republican, democrat, you name it…across the board mothers work hard and deserve more than just lip service for the work we do. I don’t think there is anything wrong with respectfully expecting respect for our work. I think it is about time we start “tooting our own horn” as the saying goes and gently start sticking up for ourselves.
Besides, ultimately, we’re worth a whole lot more than “just a paycheck.”
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I've been wanting to find a tool like that for a long time. My mom continues to belittle me because I don't have a career like she did. Honestly, I wish we'd have had a smaller house and at least had one of my parents home while I was growing up. I love being a stay at home mom but the stigma is horrible. Your blog is such an inspiration.