Sir, – Jacky Jones asks if women who work in the home full-time want this work to remain recognised in the Constitution because they fear "they might have to get a real job" if the Constitution was changed (Health, August 8th).
If I was being paid to mind someone else’s children would this role be considered a “real job”? Perhaps if I was caring for an elderly or disabled relative, then my work would be “real”?
While I am not paid in monetary terms, my choice to work full time in my home and to care for my four children myself has been rewarded many times over in ways perhaps cold, hard economics can never reflect.
I am tired of having to justify this choice and I will never regret it. In my many years of paid work outside the home, I never worked harder or longer hours, assumed so many different roles, or received so much in return. I do not fear a return to regulated hours, coffee breaks and days off!
It saddens me that what women (and men) like me do is valued so little now. – Yours, etc,
JAN DORAN,
Gorey, Co Wexford.