If house work and child rearing is hard and important work, why shouldn’t people be paid for it? The National Assembly in Venezuela has approved the first discussion of the Law of Social Protection of House Wives.

The object of the law is the establishment and regulation of the protection of house wives or whoever has this role. It aims to develop the policies and mechanisms to realise what was established in the constitution, where the work at home was recognised and an economic activity that creates added value and produces wealth and social wellbeing.
Recognising the social economic importance of domestic and care work, the law will guarantee social security for those housewives who don’t receive other income.

Finally, the law seeks to break with the patriarchal culture that makes such work invisible and assigns it exclusively to women, subjugating them to obligatory work that limits their time and generates obstacles to their full and active participation in society.

So far women have benefited in many ways from the revolution here, having exclusive access to credit from the Women’s Bank, and being the main benefactors of policies for previously excluded, such as the literacy programs. They are also playing a main role in the grass roots participation in the politics and decisions of the country, but still lack recognition of this through elected positions and in the national to regional leadership.

Women here are strong, they get up at meetings and speak their opinions loudly and passionately, lacking the usually shyness and lack of confidence of women in most other countries. However many still accept their role as housewives, house cleaners, cooks for their husbands and families and as second to the male in the family.