The man claimed women who stayed at home were using their husbands. Photo / 123RF
The man claimed women who stayed at home were using their husbands. Photo / 123RF
Furious Aussie mums have hit back after a man accused women who stay at home to look after their children of being gold diggers.
Australian Facebook page Stay At Home Mum shared the message they received from the man on Wednesday, known only as Jonathan, accusing women who don't have jobs of "taking advantage" of the men in their lives.
Jonathan seems to think that women who stay at home enjoy glorious long lunches out and Netflix binge sessions on the reg, rather than the hours of unpaid labour in the form of childminding and chores they actually do, which enables men to work full-time.
"This encourages females not to be in the workplace and to rely on men. No I'm not a feminist," Jonathan's message read.
"I just think women shouldn't be lazy. Men take care of kids and work a full-time job. Why shouldn't the females bring in half their weight as well?"
The man's message was shared on the Stay At Home Mums Facebook page. Photo / Supplied
Jonathan argued that any relationship should be "half and half" and that it was not okay that women were able to be "with a man so he can work hard and give all this money to you".
"Taking advantage of someone and treating a man like a bank is not okay," he said.
"It's gold digging and it's being someone who uses others."
Stay At Home Mum shared a screenshot of the message with their 534,000 Facebook followers, writing: "We don't get many entertaining messages like this very often (we used to get heaps!) but we were so amused by this one, that we just had to post it up.
"Jonathan … Maaaaate! Seriously?"
The post got over 1000 comments, mostly from women, who said the man was seriously missing the point when it came to what stay at home parents do.
"Jonathan clearly doesn't understand the expense of childcare. I have five kids and now with 3.5 in school (our fourth goes two to three days a week, alternating weeks)," one mum wrote.
"We looked at me returning to work and the cost of childcare for it. We worked out that my wages would basically pay childcare or we might walk away with $100-$200/week. Wasn't worth the while or hassle. Grow up Jonathan!"
The man's stance was widely criticised. Photo / 123RF
"What the ever loving f**k?" another woman wrote. "My husband worked and I stayed home caring for the family, allowing him to focus single-mindedly on his career. A marriage is a partnership, not a business arrangement."
"Stay at home mum is a job, no payday, no vacation and you cannot walk away after eight hours. Lock him in the house with my kids for one day and he will change his mind," another said.
Many women argued that even if they did work, they still ended up doing more housework compared to their husbands.
"What happens, most of the time, is a woman will also have a full-time job but still do almost the majority of everything else too," one said.
"As far as I can tell, how is that progress? A working woman coming home to also work at home with chores, kids, dinner, shopping and laundry with less time because she has a full-time job."
"Except most men don't do half the work with the kids. Women do it 24/7 and rarely get a break. If he is married, I feel sorry for her having such a heartless husband," another commented.
