Should Women Be in the Workforce?

Answering a common, yet controversial question

One of the most common questions I see in my circles is this: “Should women be in the workforce?”. A few different speakers and pastors I look up to say “No,” across the board. While I’m inclined to agree, I do recognize we aren’t living in an ideal world, let alone an ideal economy. I think the answer to this question depends on several different factors. In this post, I’ll be thinking through a few of those factors and exceptions.

What does the Bible say?

A general mission for women can be found in Titus 2:4-5 (emphasis mine)

“...teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

Notice how the verse states a woman should be a “keepers at home”, not “Keepers of the home”, as some folks would say. It’s clear from this passage that a woman’s focus should be on her home and her family. Proverbs 31 also has strong implications when it talks about The Wife of Noble Character.

A husband should do everything in his power to provide a way for his wife to stay home, especially if they have children. His wife likewise should be willing to stay home in order to better care for him, the children and the home. They also need to come together and discuss the sacrifices they need to make in order to make it possible. Annual vacations, new cars or even organic whole foods are common sacrifices. This is one aspect that will vary greatly from one family to another. One of the sacrifices we personally made was giving up our own apartment to move into my parent’s house. (More on that in next week’s article.)

Exceptions to the rule

Now before anyone gets upset and starts throwing around a bunch of “What ifs”, let’s add a few disclaimers and discuss some of the exceptions.

Of course, a woman can work if her husband has a disability, incapability or something to that effect. I’m not going to be focusing on those exceptions right now because they’re so rare. What I do want to focus on is the exception of a bad economy.

We all know the economy is terrible right now. Especially for young couples who want children. Not everyone has the option to move in with their parents or in-laws like we did. In some parts of the US, some couples can’t afford to live in something even as simple as a mobile home on a single income. Not to mention, trailer parks aren’t generally the safest place for a man to leave his wife and children while he’s at work.

In those cases, when the couple is struggling that deeply, I do think it’s okay for a married woman to be in the workforce. There just needs to be a recognition that even though she’s also working, the Lord still commanded her to be a keeper at the home and be a helpmeet to her husband. She shouldn’t be in the workforce to chase her dream career, and her husband’s focus should always be on getting to a point where he can afford to have his wife quit her job and stay home full time.

I see people say lots of things such as “Well, if it’s that bad, they really just need to move.” and in some cases, they should indeed move. However, there are also cases where one’s entire family is in the area and it would be unwise to move outside the vicinity of their support network. Not to mention, the cost of moving typically isn’t one that struggling couples can afford.

The same goes for saying that the husband simply needs a different job. Oftentimes, things aren’t that black and white and we need to be understanding of others and their unique situations.

The Productive Christian Household

Imagine there was a farmer who sold his goods at the local market. The farmer spends his days laboring in the field, his wife is his helper and looks after the animals, and outside of school, the children help their parents with minor chores around the farm. All members of the household contributed so that the farmer’s business can thrive and therefore support the entire family.

Many homes are like this today, but not as obvious as a family farm. A great example of this is Pastor Brian Sauve’s household. Pastor Sauve is a man blessed by the Lord with a great number of talents, a bulk of which he’s been able to monetize in order to support his family. One of his enterprises is New Christendom Press, which is a Christian publishing company. They’ve released six books so far, one of which was written by his wife, Lexy.

When they announced the release of Lexy’s book, Wisdom on Her Tongue (a great book, by the way), the couple received backlash from some people who accused Pastor Sauve of platforming his wife by giving her the “job” of a writer. That controversy proved that many people don’t understand 1. What a productive Christian household is, and 2. How it works when the wife is involved in bringing in an income by working with her husband. Here’s Pastor Sauve’s response to the matter:

“...my wife wrote this book in the hour before our kids wake up and during their nap times over a 3–4 month period. She won’t be doing speaking tours, conferences, or other heavy promotional work for it. We record Bright Hearth [their podcast] once every two weeks after the kids are in bed, and I do the preparation work ahead of time and all the work on the back end of it as well. These things are a part of our productive Christian household—think “Proverbs 31” activities.”

I can also give a personal example. A few months ago, I started doing design work for my friend, Amanda of Little Red Hen Baking Supply. She makes and sells fondant cookie stamps and as one of her designers, we work together creating various collections for her company. When I do design work, I’m working when my kids are asleep for the night or when my husband takes them to the park for Dada time. My husband also worked on the manufacturing side of the business before his day job started requiring him to work overtime.

If you want to contribute to your family’s finances by working for a friend or starting your own business, it’s important that you find a balance between your “side hustle” and your home. Your family and home are your priority first and foremost.

For the single woman

Although some would disagree, I think it’s perfectly okay for a woman to work if she’s single. It’s much better for a single woman to get a job than it is for her to sit around watching TV or wasting her days away on social media. Not all are promised marriage at a young age, after all.

If a single woman is going to have a job or even a career, she needs to make sure her focus is still on the priorities the Lord has laid out in His Word. Her mindset needs to be focused on doing her job well, but also maintaining her home. If she’s living with her parents, she either needs to be contributing to the household chores or financially. Her days off should be spent learning or maintaining the skills of a homemaker in order to prepare for her one day becoming a wife, Lord willing.

Her job shouldn’t be her life plan. She shouldn’t pass on a good man who’s willing to marry her if it means she has to quit her job. Not all are given multiple chances at marriage in life.

If you’re a woman who has been single for several years (think mid to late 40s), and it seems like marriage may not be in the future, just do your best with what the Lord has given you. Work hard at your job, care for your aging parents and manage your home well.

The last thing I would say on this particular topic is that women shouldn’t be trying to inject themselves into male dominated spaces (such as the military, police, emergency response, oil work or high level politics.) Such arenas of work call for the gifts that God has especially blessed men with in order to succeed and excel and more often than not, women in those spaces are a hindrance to the work being done.

In recent days, this has become a commonly discussed controversy and I’m aware that there is a spectrum of viewpoints on this issue. I’d love to hear your thoughts, even if we don’t agree.