Some Moms Prefer Work
Dear Ann Landers: I must respond to “C.L. in Utah” and all other housewives who complain that they don’t get paid for all the jobs they do. These women have the pleasure of staying home with their children, and you say they don’t get paid? These women get their mortgages paid, utilities, phone, auto and auto insurance, food, clothing, life and health insurance, credit cards, entertainment and on and on.
Most working women cannot possibly make enough to pay for all these things. Working women must deal with outside pressures as well as take care of the duties of a housewife. No piece of cake, I can assure you.
I’m sick of listening to these women complain when they have it so easy. I have been a housewife as well as a working mother. What a joy it was to stay home during the first five years of my child’s life and not have to turn her over to some stranger. Staying home was the easiest thing I ever did in my life, and while I was at it, I reaped the benefits of my husband’s salary.
It would be nice if every woman had the choice to make, and I respect both sides. But, please, not getting paid? Get real. - Housewife and Working Secretary in Fresno, Calif.
Dear Fresno: Your letter is going to make some women angry, but you have made several valid points, and I thank you for your candor.
I should point out that not all women want to stay at home with their young children. Some prefer to hire help to take care of the kids and work at jobs that pay barely enough to break even. To each his own.
Dear Ann Landers: This is about the woman whose husband is being sexually harassed by his lady boss. I think that husband has a terrible ego problem and believes no woman can resist him. He is also a liar. No woman can hold a man’s inner thigh unless he allows it - boss or no boss.
I suspect if he changes jobs, he will tell his wife the same lies about his new female boss. - Elmer in Elmwood, Neb.
Dear Elmer: Thanks for your opinion. Several readers wrote to voice similar views and those who wrote ranged from mildly upset to livid.
Some men manage well with a female boss, but many would prefer not to be in that position. Also, a lot of wives would be more comfortable if their husband’s boss was male.
Dear Ann Landers: I’m writing about discrimination against people who have disabilities that are not visible. I am a 36-year-old woman with an autoimmune liver disease. If you were to look at me, I would appear to be perfectly healthy.
My disease causes extreme fatigue. Some days I cannot get out of bed, and most days I have to go back to sleep until noon to have enough energy to get through the afternoon. I take strong medicines that wipe me out both physically and mentally. One day, I will probably need a liver transplant.
I can’t tell you how often I have gotten nasty looks and mean comments from people who assume I am abusing the system or taking a much-needed parking space from someone who “really needs it.” Well, I really need it, too.
Please remind your readers that just because a person looks fine doesn’t mean he or she is. Not all disabilities can be seen. We are not all blind, have a limb missing or get around in wheelchairs. - Looking Fine But Far From It in N.Y.
Dear Looking: I’m glad you wrote. So are hundreds of others who voiced the same feelings of unjust persecution. P.S. Readers with heart ailments complained the loudest.