It seems to me that this concept of the bored housewife is simply an invention of the feminist movement. How can one be bored in their home unless the boredom is simply the outward appearance of a dull mind. The normal woman is an inquisitive, creative person who applies her talents and ideas to the space she is in.
G.K. Chesterton said, " Woman must be a cook, but not a competitive cook; a school mistress, but not a competitive school mistress; a house decorator, but not a competitive house decorator a dressmaker, but not a competitive dress maker. She should have not one trade but twenty hobbies; she, unlike the man, may develop all her second bests. This is what has been really aimed at from the first in what is called the seclusion, or eve the oppression, of woman. Woman were not kept at home in order to keep them narrow; On the contrary, they were kept at home in order to keep them broad. The world outside the home was one mass of narrowness, a maze of cramped paths, a mad house of monomaniacs. It was only be partly limiting and protecting the woman that she was enable to play at 5 or 6 professions and so come almost as near to God as the child when he plays at a hundred trades. But, the woman's professions unlike the child's were all truly and terribly fruitful."
"How various her employments whom the world call Idle and who justly in return, esteems that busy world an idler too. Friends, books, her needle and perhaps her pen, delightful industry enjoyed at home. Can she want occupation who has these?" a sampler verse from 1822
"I am not a homemaker because I had too little ambition or education to make anything else of myself. No, I am a homemaker because God has given the infinite honor of being a wife, and I delight in employing every ability that he has equipped me with in this glad career. " Mrs. Lanier Ivester
Feminism is mixed up with a muddled idea that woman are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husband." G.K. Chesterton
If anything I have found that being in my home is not limiting it is expansive. If I were to work outside of my home, there are so many enjoyments that I would no longer be able to explore or take part in. It was not until I came home that I discovered many of my talents and had the time to cultivate them. I am not defined by the narrowness of a career. Instead I am defined by my enjoyments. I am a home maker. I am a Gardner, a needle point artist, a teacher, a chef, a baker, a decorator, a seamstress, a professional shopper, a writer, and on and on. The list is not limited because being at home is not limiting. The only thing limiting me is my imagination.
