A Woman's Place is in the Home?

Growing up, there's always the ongoing debate about where a woman's place should be.  Not necessarily in my own home, but it has been discussed in the various media. In my younger days, I would not really have had a thought about it, however as I grow older and am still hearing the discussions, I thought it best to take a closer look for myself.

Now let's put a woman in a home and see how she handles it. There are a couple things that may shock you if this woman really uses her head, and the house is reasonably equipped where she can communicate with those outside the said home. I'll list them below, and have observed them on some occasions:

• She'll turn her house into an asset. In other words, she'll make the attributes of her home coupled with her skills work for her. What do I mean?
• She'll run a home office, in many instances providing off site admin support for her clients which may be a minimum of 10 paying a monthly retainer. Services like document management, drafting of documents, bookkeeping and payroll processing
• She'll provide services, which gave rise to the cottage industry, services like - clothing alterations and needle working [dress making for those outside the Caribbean], cooking meals for sale, retailing snacks and knickknacks to children and passersby from one room converted into a shop, micro-laundry services for larger establishments (small restaurants and small hotels) who would drop off and pick up, some even make confectionery which has now become much larger in terms of the business that begun at home. 
• Some would go into agriculture growing vegetables and some fruit and selling them back to restaurants, supermarkets and hotels. A few would even sell to individuals. 
• She will still rear children, engage in social activities, clean the home and its surroundings, take a course of study, say that she's tired and still dress up when it's time to go out looking nothing like the homebody she has decided to become. I say decided because many do so by choice where they can set their own terms of how they'll spend their day and what they'll do. 
• Here's a secret! Many out earn their male counterparts and keep it quiet to protect the egos of men who can't take it. 
• Some women, not all, can really make a budget work. They seem to make the household budget stretch and accomplish quite a bit. 
• I hasten to add though that not all the career paths that are chosen to work from home are of a domestic nature. Some are architects, masseuses, and other portable yet professional designations. 
• Throw a woman lemons and she'll make lemonade. That's the resilience they have. 

Men, we can learn a lot from women if we humble ourselves. Women have enabled men to experience significant success. Let's treat them more respectfully, especially since many homes were governed in a matrifocal manner within the Caribbean.