I worked in many different paid employment positions prior to raising children. No, as a woman I am probably not physically capable of performing as adequate a job as a man in a 110-degree factory. (I suppose it depends on the job. Standing there inspecting a product would work, but palletizing wouldn't).
But I sense the disdain dripping from your post about lazy, good-for-nothing women who stay home with the kids. I would personally prefer the factory work. Then I could say, 'Look at me, I work myself to death in a 110-degree factory while my lazy, good-for-nothing husband chit-chats on the phone'. And I could come home at night and complain that the house isn't clean enough, my dinner isn't right, and the kids are in my way.
No, housework isn't necessarily physically laborious. I've offered to go to work and let my husband take care of the children. (Of course he declined!) (He doesn't do physically laborious work, BTW, he does tech support which is what I used to do). What would *you* rather do, honestly? Work in a factory for 8 hours or stay home taking care of children?
I guess it's just all part of Adam and Eve's curse about the relationships between men and women.
I really don't like the truly sexist attitudes coming out of the woodwork on some of these threads....
Lately it's the "mall" comments. Do these guys think running around a mall or wherever during the day w/young kids is just for fun? How about constant upgrades to growing kids' wardrobes? How about groceries, picking up/dropping off kids, and other errands to do? Do they think the woman, since she's called "house-wife" or "stay-at-home" mom, means literally that they don't venture from the home perimeter?
And you all who state things like "don't let down your guard or she'll neuter you" - implying that's exactly the intention of all women. That just sucks. And the other side of the coin in your comments is "*I* *man* need all the 'power'". That ain't so hot, either. So you just want everything your way, huh?
Sorry, but this and other threads I've seen are getting to me w/that anti-woman attitude.