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Vaidah Mushangwa
NUMEROUS studies have highlighted how women who earn far less than their husbands have less power in their marriages. As such there are also women who have no power in the way income is distributed once the husbands earn it.There is always the belief that once income is earned by the wife or husband it is used for the benefit of the whole family yet it is never like that. Who then determines how much income gets allocated to meet each family member’s needs in the family?
One of the housewives I interviewed said, “I don’t even know how much he earns but we have been married for 20 years. He just gives me $200 for the month which I must use for food, children’s day-to-day needs when they go to school and buy children’s clothes”.
The other housewife said, “He does the grocery on his own and gives me a little for my own day-to-day needs. When children need clothes, he gives me just enough for the clothes. I don’t really know how much he earns”.
A working woman said, “Before I used to ask him for everything, he used to give me a daily allowance. He used to shout at me if he thought I was overspending his money”.
It is unfortunate that the investments of time and effort that a wife typically makes in the home like raising the children, providing emotional support to her husband, keeping in touch with the husbands relatives and looking after the husband himself cannot be transferred directly into earnings.
So while housewives do numerous roles, some men do not see the monetary value that is attached to these roles. Research has revealed that wives with little job experience and lower earning potential are too dependent on their husbands. This then translates to the power relations in a marriage, the greater the earnings one has, the more one shapes the family’s daily life and the more control over key decisions.
On the other hand women who are employed or have a source of income were more likely to make joint decisions with their husbands or even make final decisions pertaining to what car to buy, whether to go for a vacation or not, what house and household furniture to buy and the household budget.
This does not mean to say, however, that husbands give in to what their spouses say because of the sole reason that they contribute to family earnings. There is more to what happens in relationships.
At times the issue of how to spend earnings in a family strains relationships to the extent that one’s physical and emotional wellbeing is affected. Most physicians according to the book, Chores in Relationships, have reported that the problems their patients suffer from such as nightmares, headaches, rashes, high blood pressure, sleeplessness, significant weight loss or gain are a result of strained relationships. Issues to deal with budgeting have to be worked out jointly so that there is peace and harmony in the home.
In some instances some businessmen do not involve their wives in the business operations and in the end the wives become distant observers. We can all imagine what will happen upon the death of such business persons.
When a woman also earns more than the husband, the latter usually feels threatened and insecure. According to research mostly the rich and famous women are single due to such reasons or at times they are too economically independent to get married. Increased labour force participation or married women and the growth of women’s incomes relative to men’s translate to increased marital power for women.
Unemployed and poor women are unlikely to make final decisions or make joint decisions with their husbands. The search for economic independence has seen more and more women participating in the labour force and also taking up entrepreneurial activities. The women in tourism, agriculture and mining for example are contributing both to the economic development of the country as well as the financial stability of their families.
A number of women participated at the just-ended United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly jointly hosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia and some have taken part in regional and international fairs. This development has altered the balance of power between men and women.
In most homes, however, the husband-breadwinner arrangement works pretty well. It is generally acceptable that women’s earnings are far less than man’s wages due to the types of work done by most women. As a result some husbands consider themselves as major earners who merely need the support or help of their wives.
In some households, budgets are divided among husband and wife each with specific roles to play after getting paid. Some people have expressed their reservations on such an arrangement as it may leave the wife without much spending money since women are generally low earners.
What works well with another family might not necessarily work positively with the other. The most important thing is mutual respect and understanding between couples.
It is still not known whether money is a source of happiness in families. Some women in the high-income earning bracket get whatever they want but have never experienced happiness. Some couples are low income earners but are very compatible and happy. Money should not be a vehicle to destroy a family rather it should strengthen families.
Vaidah Mashangwa is the provincial development officer for Bulawayo in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development. She can be contacted on [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> 0772111592 /09-889224
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