Weasley Poverty, Working Wizard Women; was Molly & Arthurwas Why I like Ginny

[Megan]

No: HPFGUIDX 123790


(citing Jocelyn who wrote:)
~snip~"... Because Arthur's job doesn't pay well. Why doesn't he get 
abetter paying job? ~snip~ Arthur has made the decision not to move
further up in the Ministry because he loves muggle inventions, and 
he loves his job. All well and good, and I certainly don't want to
suggest he should move to a job he hated, but he has 6 children to
support & establish - isn't this a very selfish decision?"~snip~

and meganlynn wrote in agreement:

~snip~"If you are going to have 7 children, you should be prepared 
to make some sacrifices for them. Now, I am in no way saying the 
Weasley's are bad parents. It is obvious they love their children 
very much, and make them their top priority."~snip~

skater314159 writes:
I have to disagree with both of you, in that I think Arthur is doing 
fine where he is. He works in the government (which doesn't pay much 
in the WW or the RW) because he wants to make a difference. He 
believes (probably correctly - based upon how the characters talk 
about/react to Muggles) that if *he* doesn't do the job, it probably 
won't get done at all. I also feel that Arthur at some point in his 
life had to ask himself an important question:
"What am I going to do with my life? Am I going to a)make money 
doing a job that pays well and will give my family more money <or> b)
am I going to follow my heart/ethics/beliefs and do what I 
think/believe/feel that I need to do to make this world a better 
place, even if it means I won't make as much money or have as much 
prestige." I applaud him for choosing b). It is not easy to do that 
(especially in America where making money, buying goods and having 
high prestige are very important to adults - moreso than in other 
countries). 

I do not think it is a "selfish" decision at all that Arthur made. 
To me it is a decision to forsake personal benefit for the good of 
all. I think that doing that shows that he *lives* out what he 
believes - practises what he preaches - which is a very good thing 
for a father to do. I think his choice is very important to the 
family in that it influences the children. All of them have jobs 
that they love and that are beneficial - and except for Fred and 
George (who seem to be doing quite well in the joke market) I don't 
recall any of them being "finacially endowed".

I just do not think that not being rich is bad for a family ... and 
I don't think that one of the "sacrifices" a parent must make for 
the sake of his children is to give up the ideologies or beliefs 
that he holds dear. Also he should not have to give up "honour" in 
order just to make money and have his family live in posh 
surroundings just because society is materialistic/consumer-driven.


Another point I must disagree on follows...
meganlynn wrote:
~snip~"A second issue I have is Molly Weasley's role as a homemaker. 
Having so many young children at home, having to raise AND 
homeschool them certainly warrants a stay-at-home mom. However, with 
all the children out of the house 10 months out of the year, what 
does she do all day? If the family was so strapped for cash (and the 
years when 5 of their children were in school-books 2 and 3- were 
certainly the tightest)why not get a job? " ~snip~


Now its me (skater314159) again:

First of all, I don't think that we should judge Molly. If she was a 
real person - suppose she was my neighbour for example - and I heard 
someone say this, I would be appalled. 
I think a woman's decision where to work should be up to her. If she 
decides to work in the home, then she should be able to without 
people talking bad about that decision.  Today there seems to be the 
belief that a woman can do anything (well, most anything) she wants 
to - as long as it isn't that she chooses to be a housewife! This 
seems hypocritical to me, because if a woman can decide for herself, 
shouldn't "housewife" be an acceptable choice?

Also, as alshainofthenorth stated in post# 123687:
~snip~"From the orchard where the Weasley kids play Quidditch, 
throwing apples to each other instead of proper balls, and from the 
several chickens picking in the garden, I had the impression that 
Molly is running a small-scale farm with free-range poultry, eggs, 
apples etc. at the Burrow. If so, that's a full-time job right 
there." ~snip~

This is *very* true. When I was growing up, my dad had a farm (there 
were cattle, crops, chickens,and grapes(for wine),and more that were 
all "organic"/"all-natural" and everything was run with solar power 
that came from solar-panels - because he believed that was the right 
way to live)and let me tell you that it is *hard work*! It took much 
time, effort, hard-work and money (investment in equipment and 
upkeep) to keep it going. It is *not* easy. Taking care of something 
like that, while possible for a family to do, is a *full-time job*.  
Add to that she has to cook and clean and do chores even when the 
kids are gone (which is still *work*) and I can see why she does not 
have a job.

Skater314159

~who loves homemade fruit pies almost as much as pi~
:)