by Mannahattamamma (UAE) | Oct 12, 2012 | Domesticity, Economy, Family, Human Rights, International, Kids, Living Abroad, Motherhood, Older Children, UAE, World Motherhood, World Voice
A friend came to our apartment the other day and said “Wow, your place is always so clean!”
I looked at her. “Well, I pay someone,” I said. “Duh.”
Until we moved to Abu Dhabi, I’d never had someone clean my house. I didn’t grow up with “help,” although I imagine my mother sometimes felt like the underpaid scullery maid. I went to a friend’s house for a holiday weekend once, in college, and when we got there, her mother said that if I needed something ironed, I should just leave it out “for the girl”. I was confused: the only other woman in the house was a middle-aged African American woman. I wore a wrinkled shirt to the party.
All of which is to say, until I hit forty-seven recently, I was my own domestic help.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to re-hash The Help; instead I’m writing about how strange — and dangerously seductive — it is to live suddenly in a world where “help” – and lots of it – is readily available, even to people like me, who in the scheme of things don’t make that much money. (more…)
After twenty-plus years in Manhattan, Deborah Quinn and her family moved to Abu Dhabi (in the United Arab Emirates), where she spends a great deal of time driving her sons back and forth to soccer practice. She writes about travel, politics, feminism, education, and the absurdities of living in a place where temperatures regularly go above 110F.
Deborah can also be found on her blog, Mannahattamamma.
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by World Moms Blog | Apr 21, 2012 | Cooking, Husband, Kids, Life Balance, Nigeria, Rox is Brilliant, Salma, Saturday Sidebar, Scoops of Joy, Susie Newday, Tara B., The Alchemist
Housework is "For the Birds"
This week we’re talking about housework. MamaMzunga of Kenya asked our writers,
“How do you divide up housework? Does it fall into predictable gender divisions? And, maybe most importantly, do you think it’s divided fairly?”
Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…
Alison Lee of Malaysia writes:
“I’m lucky to have a cleaning crew come once a week to do deep cleaning. The daily chores of just keeping the place neat and tidy, laundry, cooking – well, that’s all me!” (more…)
World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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by World Moms Blog | Mar 24, 2012 | Domesticity, Eva Fannon, Family, Husband, Japan, Rox is Brilliant, Saturday Sidebar, South Korea
This week’s Saturday Sidebar Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Kyla P’an. She was wondering,
“How often does laundry get done in your home and who does it?”
Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…
Maggie Ellison of South Carolina, USA writes:
“Laundry gets done by me every day of the week, except the weekends. I take weekends off!”
Kyla P’an of Massachusetts, USA writes:
“Ironically, I’m sitting down to e-mail after folding two baskets (one light, one dark) of laundry. But it is for the very response posted above by Maggie, and echoed by so many of my friends, that I posed this question in the first place. I cannot fathom doing laundry every day.
For our family of 4 (two adults, a 6yo girl and a 3yo boy) we do laundry every 7-10 days. And typically my husband washes (he finds it therapeutic to combat stains) and I fold. We are by no means slovenly people, we’re just conservative I suppose. Aside from undergarments, workout clothes and socks, many things get refolded and put back in a drawer at the end of the day. I simply cannot get my head around having enough wash to justify a daily load…could someone please enlighten me?” (more…)
World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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