Women Were Happier When They Were Barefoot and Pregnant in the Home

Women Were Happier When They Were Barefoot and Pregnant in the Home

A man named Stefan Molyneux, who is not a believer, wrote on twitter, “Since women gave up being mothers in order to be drone workers under fluorescent lights, female happiness has declined every single decade.” This makes sense to me since the farther women go from God’s will for them, the more unhappy they will become. However, others very much disagreed. They wanted proof that women are more unhappy.

There’s an article titled Gains in Women’s Rights Haven’t Made Women Happier? Why is That? “Since the 70s, women in the US and Europe have reported feeling less satisfied with their lives…Stevenson and Wolfers discovered that American women rated their overall life satisfaction higher than men in the 1970s. Thereafter, women’s happiness scores decreased while men’s scores stayed roughly stable. By the 1990s, women were less happy than men…Evidence supports the idea that women’s rights and roles in the home in the US and Europe have not moved in step with changes in the workplace. Therefore, because women with jobs often do most of the chores and childcare, they shoulder a dual burden that cuts into their sleep and fun.”

So now we come to the gist of why women are more unhappy. They are required to do too much. They have willingly taken on the woman’s curse of pain in childbirth along with the man’s curse of providing. They have too much housework to do and they still must take care of the children after a long day at work. BUT, they fought for the right to do this! They wanted to have careers, therefore, men should want to do housework, right? Do you realize how many marriages are being destroyed over housework?

No matter how hard feminists have tried to convince us about the “equality” between men and women, it will never work because they are fighting against God’s grand design for men and women. Women were created to have children and be keepers at home, men were not.

“Expectations also lie behind the curious finding that performing household chores makes men statistically less likely to become depressed but contributes to depression in women. Taking on housework seems to encourage men to judge themselves as generally likeable, fair-minded dudes, kindly reducing their wives’ load. On the other hand, taking on housework seems to make women feel exploited.”

This is so terribly sad. The work that God has given women to do makes them feel exploited. Did you notice the word “feel”? It’s never wise to be led by one’s feelings instead of by God’s Word. A woman can either choose to do her housework cheerfully, as unto the Lord, and find joy in it or she can feel like she’s being exploited and be constantly miserable. If women understand that the greatest of all is the servant of all and that it is more blessed to give than to receive, their entire attitude would change. (If a husband insists his wife work outside of the home and take care of everything related to the home, then, yes, this is a very heavy burden for a woman. She will have to rely on the Lord’s strength to get her through.)

Elizabeth Bernstein in an article called Meet the Marriage Killer has found that nagging causes more divorces than affairs and many women nag their husbands over housework. “But women are more likely to nag, experts say, largely because they are conditioned to feel more responsible for managing home and family life.” They are “conditioned” this way because God, their Creator, made them this way! They are the ones with the wombs where the babies grow and the breasts to feed their babies. They can’t escape basic biology.

With regards to nagging, this is why there are verses in the Bible warning us about quarreling and contentious wives. Yes, men view nagging as being contentious and disrespectful. They are grown men and don’t want to be continually told what to do. It will push their husband away from them faster than almost anything else they can do. “It is better to live in a corner of a roof than in a house shared with a contentious woman” (Proverbs 21:9). As a wife nags her husband about housework, she is tearing her home down.

“As women’s rights and opportunities have increased, it seems reasonable that women in industrialized countries have internalized ever more complex and optimistic expectations, and judged reality against these. Asked how satisfied she is with her lot in life, the housewife of the early 1970s probably just reflected on whether things were going well at home. The same question today evokes evaluations across many areas of life.”

How can women be happier when their marriages are falling apart and their children are being raised by strangers? How can they be happier after coming home every night exhausted and still having to care for the children and the home? How can those who choose not to get married and have children be happier growing older alone? How can money take the place of loving, warm relationships? It’s relationships that make people happy – strong and healthy family relationships yet many women today have been duped into giving this up for the almighty dollar. Women were happier when they were doing what God calls them to do – being barefoot (shoes are probably okay!) and pregnant in the home! God’s ways are truly best.

He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalm 113:9

44 thoughts on “Women Were Happier When They Were Barefoot and Pregnant in the Home

  1. What’s truly tragic, is that the feminists propagating it know that this is the case. They want women to be unhappy and marriages to fail so they can step in and claim that only a stronger more centralized government can step in and fix the problem. An article was published last year, which argued that stay at home motherhood should be illegal: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/sarrah-le-marquand-it-should-be-illegal-to-be-a-stayathome-mum/news-story/fbd6fe7b79e8b4136d49d991b6a1f41c

  2. I’d venture to say that most men don’t even want to be worker drones under fluorescent lights, so why women are chomping at the bit to do the same is ridiculous. I think many women believe the lie of feminism as illustrated so perfectly by women politicians like Hillary Clinton . They have “it all”, long marriages, healthy kids, recognition by the world, money and power. It is like a pyramid scheme that all the feminists are striving for. They think they’ll end up like Ruth Bader Ginsburg but most end up with difficult marriages, worker drone jobs, depression, and lack of fulfillment in life.

  3. Sometimes your posts are exactly the ones I need to see. Thank you–a few days ago someone told me that being a homemaker is not real work just chores because you don’t get paid. I know better, but the comment still stung and made me feel as if all my hard work had no value and was unappreciated.

  4. Some people may disagree, but when searching for a Godly man to marry, it is sometimes better to look for a man who does physcially strenuous work/manual labor. The reason being, if your husband has an office job where he entertains clients with catered lunches, goes to shows or fun trips, it will breed resentment. Not to mention, those jobs often have to do with “worldly” things instead of simple Christ-honoring jobs. When both spouses are working hard (physically & mentally), even though there is a division of labor in and out of the house, both will feel that they are equally contributing to their family.

    My husband will discourage our sons to go into economics/ working for big business/banks etc. He think it creates a greed for money and exposes them to too many worldly things. I want them to have a happy marriage, and of course I agree with my husband!

  5. I LOVE THIS. That’s really all I can say. It takes God’s own strength in our lives to hold a standard like yours in spite of a society who screams in frustration at women who refuse to step out of the calling that God designed for them. True happiness comes from knowing that we are pleasing to our Heavenly Father – fulfilling the plans that He has created us for. End of story.

  6. The problem with modern culture isn’t that women are discontented, for so we have always been; it is that our discontent is lionized rather than denigrated, which of course leads to more discontent and consequent unhappiness.

  7. Just wait for the backlash, Lori! I was a happy stay at home mom. 2 children who went to good schools when they were old enough. I still needed to be at home due to a problem with one of my children. I could help at my son’s school. Every family is different, but for us 2 children was the right thing.

  8. I remember being 20 ish and hearing someone say that “barefoot, pregnant, & in the kitchen” comment and I’d say, “I CAN’T WAIT!” Everyone would laugh and I’d say, “No, really!” Some of the guys would jokingly say, “Will you marry me?!” , but the women always seemed stunned that I’d admit to such a thing.

    I don’t doubt for a second that women are unhappier. Even my friends that are career women with no kids never stop complaining about things. One day, I asked one of them, “What exactly do you want? You said you’d have been miserable as a mom & housewife, but you sound miserable everyday as a career women. ”
    She brushed me off by saying she was having a bad day.

    Not one to back down (she’s a good friend), I said, “You’re having a bad day every time I talk to you! What exactly do you want?” Her answer? “To win Lotto.” So apparently 2 incomes and no kids is no longer enough either.

  9. I remembered this morning after I published the post that the saying was “barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen” instead of “…in the home” but it was too late to change! It’s very sad to see women drift so far away from God’s plan for them.

  10. I agree with Debbie, from the time I was in high school my only goal was to marry a great man, and spend the rest of my life at home barefoot and pregnant. My dream was to stay home, get pregnant, stay pregnant as long as my husband wanted me pregnant, having and raising babies and being the best wife and mother I could be. I have been blessed to be able to live that dream, I married at 19 and got pregnant on our honeymoon, and have never done any kind of work outside the home (I’m 42 now).

    Whenever we had to fill out forms for the kid’s school, etc, when it asked for mom’s occupation I actually always put “barefoot and pregnant housewife!” Nowadays the pregnant part is out of my occupation but I am definitely still a barefoot housewife at home, in the kitchen (I actually am barefoot most all the time – I’ve never worked so why bother wearing shoes ??!!) Seriously, it is a true shame that many women today cave in to society’s pressures and feminist agendas instead of spending their lives doing exactly what God put us on earth to do! We should be proud to be home barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen honoring and obeying our husbands and glorifying God in everything we do!!

  11. Yes! I’m only 37 but even I was raised in a society where we were taught that women can “have it all” – a successful career, a happy marriage, and a family. It’s ridiculous teaching. We’re women – human – not superwoman! We CAN’T have it all. So many lives have been destroyed with this teaching. When we’re at work, we feel guilty because we’re not with our children. And when we’re with our children, we feel guilty because we’re not working, contributing financially to the family. Being able to stay at home with our children guilt-free must be awesome.

  12. Lori, I love this post because it is true. I have had a taste of both worlds. I was recruited by a big international firm prior to graduating my bachelors degree on the basis of my excellent academic record. I started working crazy long hours at 23 and continued with post graduate studies. In hindsight it was insane, what was I thinking? I lived at home with my parents and I had no use for the large salary I earned. I had no thoughts of marriage although I was a Christian. I was tired and stressed out but the carrot of corporate success was dangled before me and I kept going.

    By the grace of God I met a Christian young man who was not intimidated by feminist huffing and puffing. He pursued me relentlessly and challenged my life choices with God’s Word at every turn. We’ve been joyfully married for 12 years now and I carried on working after the wedding and after 2 children. I was tempted to get back into crazy work patterns because I had a Midas touch at work and I was doing really well but it started taking it’s toll on our family so after much prayer and discussion, I quit work. We started homeschooling our children and left our family size to God. I’m not yet 40 and with 5 little ones, I rejoice that I have already lived a fulfilled life. I was miserable and exhausted in the corporate world but truthfully I am exhausted but happy barefooted, pregnant and in the kitchen. Also, none of my bosses appreciated me and loved me a fraction of how much my dear husband and children do.

  13. I do. I believe those women who don’t believe in God but are living by biblical principles are much happier than those who don’t since God’s ways are best for everyone since He is our Creator.

  14. Hollywood has been ramming feminism down our throats especially with this Ruth basis of whatever movie.
    We now have aggressive he women and the men are feeble unless they are monsters or not human like the beauty and the beast movie and the one with that woman and seacreature…. !Yuck! I live it there because it’s really so bad.

    Anyhow, ascwhy would a woman want to work outside the home? well, it’s called brainwashing.
    At school, you are told to focus on a career and be working even if you have kids. So you do that, because being ‘barefoot and ‘preggers’ as we say in urban UK talk, is so bad n spite of whether your spouse is happy to work and support you. And if he does not want you working well, better call that domestic abuse hotline as he is trying to control you.

    As a result, the barefoot line is now actually a slur and derogatory term and it is thrown at the Duggar girls and well people loathe that family because the ladies are SAHM.

    Working for me is not optional as I am alone but there were two ladies who used to work with me before quitting the job because it was too intense and one had no time to attend her kids school meetings. Both had working husbands and 2-3 children (young teens to 20s). Now with all the stress they encountered on the job, I thought they would have left to stay at home and be SAHM but oh no, they said that they couldn’t stay at home based they would go ‘nuts’ and they would hate it. They would feel useless me thinks. Anyhow both moved into less demanding jobs.

    Both were highly qualified professionals by the way in their mid 40s or so.

    And I remembered thinking ‘wow’, if only I was that fortunate to have their set up. But you see no matter how much us working women hate working, we will always convince ourselves that we love working because by not doing so, society will guilt trip into thinking that we are not’pulling our weight’ and only lazy People stay at home and you will go gaga if you do so.

  15. Debby, ever notice how so much of the terrible advice to women… comes from other women?

    ‘Body positive’ women who are an unhealthy weight (excess strain on bones, increased risk of heart disease etc) advise other women that being trim is undesirable to men, that men ‘want to have something to hold’. They are projecting. In reality, they do not want to face themselves in the mirror and do something about their condition, so they shift the blame, and attempt to make other women just as miserable, so amongst a level playing field, men are forced to ‘see’ them again.

    Stay-at-home-mothers? Same thing. All the men around you couldn’t believe their ears and ‘jokingly’ (in a public setting, so as to be polite) asked for your hand in marriage. It is the women who are with bitter hearts who want to have a career and not be ‘penalized’ for it (in the sexual marketplace), so they encourage other women that ‘men don’t want a freeloading wife’ or ‘real women have a job and raise the kids’ etc.

    All those smutty pre-teen and teen magazines at the grocer (eg. Cosmo, Teen Vogue etc) giving all that worthless ‘life advice’ to girls? Those articles are penned by women. Shared by the girls in the ‘in’ crowds at your local middle schools and high schools.

    Instead of the earthly female advice, heed the heavenly Father’s precepts.. arrive at the age of 20 as a virgin, without tattoos, zero debt, and announce to your congregation you seek to be a wife, mother and later homeschool 4+ children, and your calendar will be filled for weeks to come with suitors seeking an audience with you.

    Maybe let your earthly father know ahead of time, so he isn’t shocked with all the screening he’ll need to be doing..

  16. Pregnant, not a chance at my age

    Barefoot, not this time of year here in Wisconsin.

    In the kitchen, yes, with my husband. We both love to cook!

  17. I really feel sorry for those women, who due to any number of reasons can’t have children. Reading a blog like this must make them feel very sad

  18. I am one of those 🙂
    Though I am not a believer, I am a defender of traditional values, loving and serving others- and this begins at home. I am beyond blessed being a woman, wife, mother and home manager- and have no desire to sacrifice my husbands, childrens and own happiness for money.

  19. I completely agree – as a young woman all I ever really wanted was babies and to be a wife and mother.

  20. I have always regarded the notion of being kept ‘barefoot and pregnant ‘ all be it perhaps as an old fashioned statement as also being very romantic.

    Certainly in marriage for a wife to be blessed with all the children given to her care by God is a privilege, a blessing and how God intends it.

  21. You’re not alone Susanne! from a girl that’s been “kept home barefoot and pregnant” my entire married life, it is not only very romantic, but very feminine and submissive and lifts our husbands up as providers and protectors. It may be an old fashioned concept but I believe the world could use a lot more of us that have been blessed with joyfully accepting this as God’s plan for us!

  22. completely agree. my sister and dh niece are childless career women who are miserable and physically ill beyond their years. niece is balding and has severe eating disorder and sis has eating disorder, unstable relationships and life style. so sad to watch these women who believed the lies of feminism suffer this way. yet they feel my life is sad because I have stayed home and raised kids! my life is stable, I enjoy good health, and a wonderful marriage. I feel so sorry for both of them.

  23. Summer J – I completely agree on every count. Yours is a wonderful testimony to Godly womanhood and to marriage.

  24. Well said. I used to buy into the liberal modern feminist views that told me that I had to prove my self-worth by pursuing money and status as a career woman in the workforce. But I was fortunate enough to come to the discovery that my greatest joy was in embracing my role as a submissive housewife. I love reminding my husband every day how proud I am that he “keeps me barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen”, and I can see that it really makes him proud and confident as our protector and provider. Okay, well technically not always in the kitchen, and not pregnant 100% of the time, but pregnant again for the 4th time now 🙂 and I really am barefoot almost 100% of the time and feeling totally blessed. Back when I was striving to be a career woman, I never could have imagined being this happy or feeling so fulfilled and proud of what I do.

  25. Thanks! Amy was there a particular thing or event that changed your direction from career woman to housewife? I’ve never had a job so I don’t know anything about being a woman in the workforce (don’t want to!) Sounds like a pretty drastic change! Congrats on your pregnancy! When we lift up, submit to and obey our husbands according to God’s plan for us, we in turn are happy, blessed and fulfilled. My father lived this plan with my mother and made sure my husband would provide this life for me. I know people think I’m in my own little world but it’s all I’ve ever known or wanted!

  26. Me too, but being a teenager in the 80s, I was afraid to admit it. You were supposed to want a career. Even my mother, who I would never have considered to be a feminist, pushed me to go to college. I went to get her off my back, but all I really wanted was to get married and have a family. When I heard my (future) husband say he was looking for a girl that would be a stay-home wife, I decided to make it clear to him that I was “applying for the job”! We’ve been married for 23 years next month and have 4 beautiful sons. No regrets!

  27. Loved this post. I never wanted to be a career woman, but was often forced to be one. I am happily married to a man that wants me in the home. He wants ME to be happy. I was never happy in the workplace as the work I had to do was always so physically and mentally taxing on me. When I tried staying home with the kids, other women would get so jealous and cut me down every chance they got because they really wanted to be right where I was, but their husbands made them work. Few people realize how all this came to be. Once corporate America saw they could compel some women into the workplace, they decided to raise the prices on everything, then ALL the women, even young mothers would have to work. Of course they could pay these new workers half the wages of men, and feminist would call it a great victory. Prices continue to escalate because of corporate America s belief that both partners will work, and they will have mire money to spend since many women forgo motherhood. Feminists are evil. They don’t care about women’s happiness, children’s well being, or the matrimonial lives of people. They want power. They are so afraid that if women left the workplace in record numbers and went home where they belong, then their careers would be threatened. They used us to get what they wanted, and ruined the economy as well. We should all quit and watch the howl they would set up, and listen to the hate for us that would flow from their once honeyed lips. If all women are in the same boat, they can’t hurt us anymore. They can’t destroy our marriages or ruin our children. They are only getting away with this because we haven’t the courage to organize and fight back. We should never take their advise again, and live the way God planned it for us, and then see how much better the world becomes for all families. Then their poison could only hurt them. So many children’s lives are destroyed by all this manipulation they have done. Lets fight back! Stay home. Have as many kids as you can. You as a mother can mold society to live the traditional way God designed for us. Defeat these evil women who listen to Satan and then spread his lies.

  28. I’ve so enjoyed reading about all you wonderful mums and only wish I could join you. Unfortunately it took me much longer to realise – that you can’t have it all and being a feminist is living a lie that doesn’t take into account a woman’s true nature. Too late for me to have children but hopefully not too late to find a husband that I can submit to in accordance with God’s teachings.

  29. A woman is a woman, and a man is a man. Each are precious, and each have unique God-given gifts. Both are equal, but different. There is no woman on earth, not one, who could have beaten Mike Tyson In his prime. Or Muhammed Ali. Only a few men, who could hv. Only a woman can bear a child, and no man can know the bond between a woman and her child. Beautiful. We complement, not compete.

  30. A slightly contrary view:
    First, I’m not religious (please don’t shoot me). That said, I do believe in an order to family life. I’m not convinced that women should be chained to the home, especially if they don’t wish to have children. Some people are incapable, while others make the choice to not have children.

    That said, I’m not a lover of the feminist movement. Men have long been painted as misogynistic since the 1800’s, inaccurately to my eyes.

    Where I think things changed for the worse is when modern conveniences left women too much idle time, twiddling their thumbs and getting justifiably bored. In the forties, the Rosie the riveter era, gave women the view that they could feel useful once again. Needed instead of just a baby-raiser.

    Try to remember that people (even well-off folks) only had two changes in clothes. Their Sunday best, and work clothes. Even back then, a father was expected to work, then come home and do chores around the house. If they were farmers, then they (both parents) worked nearly 15 hours a day. Yet it wasn’t back breaking work, as they still had time to enjoy the quality of life.

    My point is, I blame the industrial revolution for upsetting the climate of the family unit and allowed feminism to gain the foothold it did. People innovated so much, that both husband and wife became caricatures of what a family is supposed to be. To the point that both found themselves lacking values that made a family strong.

  31. Wow, what a great article. I have been told that I am a misogynistic piece of crap for believing that women should be glorifying God by following their God given purpose. It is a refreshing experience to see that there are women who believe as I do. Personally I have been single because I can’t find a woman that believes like I do. Christian and family values. Thanks for giving me a little bit of hope. May God Bless You, in Jesus name, Amen.

  32. I thought I was the only one who was a non believer yet followed traditional values! I’m glad there are others ? I always say I’m a better Christian than most Christians lol We homeschool our 2 children and I would love to have more but it is very hard on the one income

  33. You and your husband each have your own roles, of equal importance and hard work. Why can’t feminists see that just because you know your respective places in the family structure doesn’t mean that you are contributing any less. Being a mother and homemaker is as highly respected in my eyes as the one who brings home a paycheck, a family can’t thrive without both those roles fulfilled.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *