There was a time when a craftsman would work on his craft from beginning to end. The shoemaker would make his shoe from the beginning to the finished product and take great pride in his work. However, today we have specialization of labor where certain persons are assigned a specialized task to increase efficiency, productivity, and economic wealth. Each person becomes a specialist in their area.
My son-in-law is an engineer and works on Nissan cars. He oversees the molding of the engines. That is his specialized task. He doesn’t work on other parts of the manufacturing of the car.
There are advantages and disadvantages of the division of labor. One advantage is that the worker becomes an expert in his field and as he continually works on it, he finds better and faster ways to doing his task and therefore continues to improve efficiency. More products can be made and therefore more economic wealth.
One of the disadvantages is monotony because the worker is only doing one task.
I believe in the division of labor for marriage and family life. However, in our career we are blessed to embrace all the advantages and yet we don’t have the disadvantage of only doing the same thing day after day. Oh yes, we do have to do many of the same things, but we are not limited to them, nor do we have to do them the same way if we don’t want to. We can think of a new way of doing it. We are queen and manager of our home. We can make our home what we want it to be—a place of order, blessing, joy, and laughter. We can be as creative as we want to be. We have a domain to rule over. We are not subject to doing one task all day long. We have many different tasks.
But we do have specialization of labor. God has ordained this for the man and woman. He created men with 50 percent more brute strength than women. They are stronger to work hard to provide for their families, to take the weight of the overall responsibility of the family, and to protect their families.
He created the woman as a maternal being. He created her physically to conceive a baby in her womb and to nurture her babies and children. He created her for the home where she can release her God-given creative abilities. The sky is her limit.
However, when husband and wife both to do the same things we will not experience the same productivity. Oh yes, a wife may be able to earn more money than her husband, but in leaving her home and children she sacrifices her God-given career for a lesser one. No amount of finance can make up for the loss of the mother in the home.
Family life is fragmenting today because women are leaving the home. What is the fruit? The couple may have more money, but their family weakens. The families of the nation are weakening, and therefore the nation weakens.
As I talk with women I find that many women no longer have time to be home to prepare the meal for the family, to have time to sit with their children at mealtimes and talk together, and then have family devotions together. These times are far more important than taking the husband’s position of providing for the family, even if you must manage with less finance.
To leave babies in the care of others when God gave them to YOU is not worth all the money in the world. Others may care for your babies and children physically, but they will never feel and understand the true inner needs of your child. And your child will always be longing for YOU. They want their mother. God intends children to be raised by mothers in homes, not in daycares by unknown people.
Let’s walk in the true division of labor that God, the great wise Creator, mandated for us.
Have a great day, Nancy Campbell
Nancy Campbell
Painting by Mary Cassatt
Painting by Mary Cassatt