Years ago, a man e-mailed me to ask if I heard of any husbands paying their wives to be stay-at-home mothers. He felt that his wife should be paid for caring for the kids, yada, yada, yada, because as far as he was concerned, his wife’s work was worthy of pay.
It seems that someone else agrees, and she is neither a stay-at-home mom, nor a husband.
According to CNN, one of South Africa’s most influential businesswomen, Wendy Luhabe, believes that stay-at-home moms should be given 10% of their husbands’ earnings. She calls it a “mommy salary,” designed to ease the “resentful choice that women have to make.”
Where to start on the “mommy salary?” I’ll go with three main points:
- She just put the value of wives at 10% of their husbands.
- Why does she assume that women resent choosing to stay home?
- “Mommy?” No one over 9 year-old should be allowed to use that word.
Here’s what I told the man who wanted to start his own “Mommy Salary”: You’ll be double taxed. It’s not worth it.
Instead, at-home moms especially should make sure they have money in their own names, accounts that only they can access. They should keep up their resumes and stay in touch with former employers and co-workers. They should maintain their skills and, if possible, go back to school.
Most of all, they shouldn’t read the comments under the CNN section, which, predictably, blather on about “breeding” and “overpopulating,” not to mention, “welfare” and “getting paid to watch TV all day.”
Now that’s taxing. Eejits.
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Good post!
No, I do not think SAHM’s need a “Mommy Salary.”
I was a SAHM for over 15 years. During that time, I did return to school for another degree. I also did a ton of volunteer work in my new field. I used that information to keep my resume current and to hone my new skills along with my older ones.
As for income – my husband and I have always shared the income, no matter who earned it. It’s called a “Partnership.”
And as for that South African businesswoman thinking that a SAHM should get 10% of her husband’s income – wow, that is pathetic.
Love your commonsense take. A stay-at-home parent’s work is very valuable, probably worth more economically depending how you calculate than the working parent, but I do dread hearing the schemes to formally move money under people’s names. I thought in a marriage each person gets 100% of the income anyway! In our household I work the job (though my wife makes a lot of money also since we put many investments in her name and she runs http://www.nucleuslearning.com which makes money too) but all the money goes into a join bank account. It’s all hers.
10% _is_ a lame and belittling number. If there’s a number it should be 50% income splitting.
Love the previous commenter who went back for another degree. Same with my wife, got a graduate educational psych degree, and runs her own business. Moms definitely shouldn’t feel like they need some allowance.
haha no thanks I’ll pass on the pity salary, I prefer just sharing in the 100% of what my husband brings home and what our home business makes.