Women Housekeeping Even On Vacation

In most families, women arrange vacations: book hotels, which clothes to pack, packing strollers, stock up sun screen where applicable, how to get to the airport, keeping kids quiet on the plane, taking them to the bathroom and the family itinerary for the next two weeks.

Women, whether they are full-time home makers or work full time, want to go on vacation to take some time off from running a home, which is more stressful now because of cellphones.

There’s no time off, because the supervision they do at home also travels to sunny islands. As the Zulu proverb says, there is no elephant that finds its tusk too heavy.

Women know that although they don’t voice it, but it is one of the things they must do to keep the family happy. I bought a novel about a Wall Street banker. She has four kids and the husband is the home maker. They have a nanny, a laundry service, another service that changes bed sheets once a week, a cook and a dog walker.

In poor families, all these services are enshrined in one person. She is the vacation housekeeper in families that can afford vacation. Sometimes the stress is too much and the mirror cracks, at the plane crew, hotel staff and restaurants.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger