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In a world full of self-help books, women touring the country giving seminars on “doing you” and umpteen thousand Facebook fag pages dedicated to motivating you to do more, more, more every day, where does a stay-at-home woman fit in? Fifty years ago it was the norm to be a “kept woman.” Now, just that term raises negative images of women spoiled out of their senses, drinking white wine all day and pretending to love their wealthy husbands. But that’s not all it is. Some women just so happen to fall in love with a man who is well off—a man who makes that woman’s minimum wage job at a café obsolete, because he can provide for the both of them. And that’s okay. But, if you’re such a woman, you may get some grief from society, not to mention your closest friends! Here are the judgments and misunderstandings to be prepared for.

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I remember as a young girl watching my great grandmother do so many things around the house. She’d cook, clean, sew and iron. She always seemed busy doing what my Poppop called “women’s work.” I thought to myself, “There has to be more to being a woman than knowing how to do domestic things” – but have times changed that much from when I was a child? While traditionally there are some tasks that are gender specific, I can’t help but think women nowadays are forging their own traditions with a “roll-up-your-sleeves and get-the-job-done” type of attitude. Yes, you should be able to cook a great meal, keep your house clean enough to keep the vermin away and iron your clothes well enough to be presentable at work. That’s a given. But we can do better than that in 2012.

Here are 10 things I think all women should know how to do – we go to work!

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