20 Jobs for the SAHD

[dairyfreelife]

stayathomedaughter.com/2012/06/05/20-job-ideas-for-stay-at-home-daughters

9.} Typing Transcripts

Doctors, law enforcement officials and other professors often put information onto audio files. Many times they need people to listen and transcribe this information into a text document format.

Someone told her one has to take classes to do this, but she did not change her list.

6.} Mother’s Assistant

A mother’s assistant could do a variety of things childcare, cooking, cleaning etc…. Sometimes a young mom with little children just needs a little extra help to get everything done.

[Witsec7]

Sometimes a young mom with little children just needs a little extra help to get everything done.

Only until her kids get big enough to do the work for her.

[sassycupcake]

stayathomedaughter.com/2012/06/05/20-job-ideas-for-stay-at-home-daughters

Someone told her one has to take classes to do this, but she did not change her list.

Ugh, she's also stretching her list by counting "sewing and selling clothing," "jewelry making," and "reselling items" as "jobs" separate from "run an Etsy shop."

Guess what, there AREN'T twenty different viable "jobs" for SOTDRT-educated SAHDs. :o

[CanadianHippie]

I notice she also has some food related businesses. Now I don't know the law there, but here they can get pretty intense about selling food to others and you'll need at the very least a licence (which I think involves an inspection the cooking area and testing the water supply) and a food safe certificate which requires leaving home for a one day course every two years.

[lilwriter85]

She probably found the transcription idea from somewhere or someone, but didn't do further research. I know a women who does part time work doing transcriptions for law enforcement. She was a court stenographer for several years, but she eventually had to quit because of health issues. She goes two or three times a week and transcribes interviews.

Also doesn't etsy charge sellers huge fees?

[xDreamerx]

Just as several things can be filed under "Etsy Shop", babysitting, nannying and 'mother's assistant' are all the exact same thing. Looking after other people's kids.

[Rosa]

There are other kinds of transcription though - I worked for a company that did transcriptions of corporate earnings calls. That doesn't require any training except what they do when you get hired. You have to type hella fast and be available at weird hours, on no notice, though.

[ElphabaGalinda]

A lot of those jobs are the same thing, so the real list would have far less jobs than 20. And getting those jobs and being successful are probably harder than they'd think.

[bananacat]

I wonder why SAHDs would be looking for a job anyway. Isn't the whole selling point of Patriarchy that girls don't need to worry their pretty little heads about money because Daddy or Husby will take care of all that icky complicated financial stuff? It's almost as though some SAHDs are starting to realize that Prince Charming will never come and they might need to earn their own money when Daddy kicks the bucket.

[IceQueen]

Is she aware that a "mother's assistant" is a "job" for young teens?? Its not exactly a way to make a living :?

[lilwriter85]

A lot of those jobs are the same thing, so the real list would have far less jobs than 20. And getting those jobs and being successful are probably harder than they'd think.

This. When I read that part about Etsy stores, I cringed. Having an online business is hard and sometimes it takes awhile to get going.

[lilwriter85]

I wonder why SAHDs would be looking for a job anyway. Isn't the whole selling point of Patriarchy that girls don't need to worry their pretty little heads about money because Daddy or Husby will take care of all that icky complicated financial stuff? It's almost as though some SAHDs are starting to realize that Prince Charming will never come and they might need to earn their own money when Daddy kicks the bucket.

I think maybe some fundie fathers maybe push their SAHDs to work part time or have a home based to contribute to family income. I have a feeling that the reason Gil Bates allows Erin to teach piano is so there can be extra money for the family.

[Elle]

Babysitting

Nannying

Mother’s Assistant

Ultimately the same thing.

Music Teacher

Tutor

Homeschool Helper

Again, same thing. Getting involved in private teaching of a subject.

Etsy Shop Owner

Sewing and Alterations

Jewelry Making

Reselling

So one idea with three different business ideas. Sewing, jewelry, and reselling, are the three most saturated markets on there. Alterations aren't so straight forward, and just because you can sew from scratch doesn't mean you can do many alterations. Jewelry takes supplies that can be pricy, and very few sellers make decent money on jewelry. Reselling is common both in the "vintage" category as well as mass-produced items since Etsy now unofficially allows people to resell mass-produced items from Alibaba and the like as long as you declare your shop to be a collective.

House Cleaner

Church Cleaning and Office Management

Same thing, different locations. Also office management and church cleaning don't go hand-in-hand, and should go in the next grouping.

Photographer

Typing Transcripts

Web Design

These three all take more than liking to do them. All of them require training, and in the case of photography, expensive equipment. Just taking a class or two doesn't mean you'll have the ability. For court and police transcripts, you must have a training certificate, and those who do those transcripts will hear about rape and other things fundy girls aren't supposed to know exists. Web design is both saturated and takes serious skill to not make some crappy AOL ca. 1998 website.

Companion For the Elderly

Personal Shopper

The way she describes these is that they're nearly the same thing. Do stuff with and for old people. It could almost go in the first category. Also who on earth would rather work to pay someone else to visit with their elderly loved ones than to visit themselves? Seems anyone who would rather pay probably wouldn't care and so wouldn't pay.

Catering

Homemade Food Delivery Service

Homemade Baked Goods Business

Same thing, plus the requirements by the county.

Definitely fewer than 20 different jobs here.

[Zoom]

Also aren't a lot of those things jobs OUTSIDE the home. I don't think the SAHD label is applicable if you have a job. If it was then I was one until last fall...I was going to school but living with my parents to save money.

[BlondeAsTheyCome]

Seriously? I can't believe that she put photographer on the list. To not be a fauxographer, it takes a lot of skill, training, and the right equipment. It annoys me when fundies, or anyone else for that matter, seems to think that photography is such an easy thing. I run a small photography business and guess what, to do it right takes a whole lot of effort, time, and money. It isn't something that people just decide to do and get great results from.

Overall, her list is pretty much crap. You could boil down what she has listed into probably 5-8 things.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I wonder why SAHDs would be looking for a job anyway. Isn't the whole selling point of Patriarchy that girls don't need to worry their pretty little heads about money because Daddy or Husby will take care of all that icky complicated financial stuff? It's almost as though some SAHDs are starting to realize that Prince Charming will never come and they might need to earn their own money when Daddy kicks the bucket.

I think a lot of this is for SAHDs whose families don't already have a family business. One of the things that fundies harp on for women is, "Why should you be working your tail off to make some boss wealthier? Your family should be benefiting from your hard work." If there's a family business, then most of the SAHDs I know are expected to assist with it. If there isn't, then starting your own little business and using that money to contribute to the family is totally okay. I get the idea it's seen as a dowry of sorts, too. I remembering seeing something from the McDonalds about how getting your SAHD to start a business made her an attractive mate because it was an income source she could transfer to a husband upon marriage.

As a side note, I have to say it's a little creepy to me how quickly this SAHD idea has taken off and grown in fundieland. As recently as the late 1990s, the idea was only just being mentioned and fundie churches might have 1 or 2 outlier families with a SAHD - and they would have been seen as "fringe" or at least a little odd. I can't help wondering how/if it will infiltrate the mainstream.

[crassy]

Given the level of style of a lot of fundies, I am pretty sure I would never hire one to be my personal shopper. :)

[lilwriter85]

Seriously? I can't believe that she put photographer on the list. To not be a fauxographer, it takes a lot of skill, training, and the right equipment. It annoys me when fundies, or anyone else for that matter, seems to think that photography is such an easy thing. I run a small photography business and guess what, to do it right takes a whole lot of effort, time, and money. It isn't something that people just decide to do and get great results from.

Overall, her list is pretty much crap. You could boil down what she has listed into probably 5-8 things.

I agree, it also bugs me that make photography out to be an easy thing to do. She also made transcriptions job to be easy things to do but they aren't. Training is need for medical and legal transcribing. I mentioned the former court stenographer that I know, that LE transcriptions. I can't see law enforcement agencies hiring someone who doesn't have training or experience in a similar field. She also listed that professors would need recordings transcribed which is true for some. But a SAHD has a slim chance of getting a transcription job for a professor. Some professors would have either have their TAs do those tasks or a student worker would do it. Maybe SAHDs could get transcriptions jobs for professors at Christian colleges, but again I can see the professors having their TAs or others already affiliated with the school working for them.

[dairyfreelife]

I agree, it also bugs me that make photography out to be an easy thing to do. She also made transcriptions job to be easy things to do but they aren't. Training is need for medical and legal transcribing. I mentioned the former court stenographer that I know, that LE transcriptions. I can't see law enforcement agencies hiring someone who doesn't have training or experience in a similar field. She also listed that professors would need recordings transcribed which is true for some. But a SAHD has a slim chance of getting a transcription job for a professor. Some professors would have either have their TAs do those tasks or a student worker would do it. Maybe SAHDs could get transcriptions jobs for professors at Christian colleges, but again I can see the professors having their TAs or others already affiliated with the school working for them.

Exactly. I think digital cameras can take really great pics occasionally, but certainly not professional. I like to take pictures and out of the hundreds I've taken, maybe a handful were really good. There's some pics of blooming flowers I took that look really nice and professional, but simply taking pictures and liking it does not qualify one as a professional at all.

I saw the transcript for professors thing and thought the same. They aren't going to hire a random person to transcribe. They have assistants or hire students to do it. They hire students to take notes and pay them for that at my uni for students who are ill or something and can't make it to class.

Many others she lists are not likely either, like food service/catering/mother's assistant, etc. As her list proves, the SAHD really does not have many options. Retail and food industry work is not allowed, so they're really limited. Lack of an education really stunts them as well.

[bananacat]

I agree, it also bugs me that make photography out to be an easy thing to do. She also made transcriptions job to be easy things to do but they aren't. Training is need for medical and legal transcribing. I mentioned the former court stenographer that I know, that LE transcriptions. I can't see law enforcement agencies hiring someone who doesn't have training or experience in a similar field. She also listed that professors would need recordings transcribed which is true for some. But a SAHD has a slim chance of getting a transcription job for a professor. Some professors would have either have their TAs do those tasks or a student worker would do it. Maybe SAHDs could get transcriptions jobs for professors at Christian colleges, but again I can see the professors having their TAs or others already affiliated with the school working for them.

I completely agree about the photography. It isn't just some easy thing that anyone can do well. It requires talent, skill, practice, and often training. It's the same issue that comes up when people claim fundie wives and daughters could easily work in childcare or nursing care. No, these things require certain skills that many fundies lack. You can't just pick up a camera and get paid for it, and you can't just waltz into a daycare and get hired just because you've changed a bunch of diapers. I think both of these jobs are very undervalued in our society and that's part of the reason that so many people thing anyone can do them, but it's not true.

These SAHDs and fundie wives have been put in a position where they are qualified for almost no jobs, and that's exactly the point. They're put in this position to force them to be dependent on men. They're not supposed to be qualified to earn any money. I think a lot of them would struggle even with the jobs that are open to almost everyone. Some of the SOTDRT is so dismal that I wonder if the SAHDs could work a cash register and make change.

The only way most of them can get any money is to do "freelance" stuff for other fundies which will basically amount to charity.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Also aren't a lot of those things jobs OUTSIDE the home. I don't think the SAHD label is applicable if you have a job. If it was then I was one until last fall...I was going to school but living with my parents to save money.

Really.

If she's willing to go outside the home for the gig (and all those various "XXX helper" jobs at least require you to go to someone ELSE's house, even if you're picky about the work being done in a house) then she might as well just do the normal thing and go apply for retail jobs, fast food jobs, and waitressing gigs.

Plenty of those jobs, if you are lucky enough to find one, require no training other than what the business will provide you for the lower levels. But I suppose "yeah, I work part time at McDonald's" or "I stock shelves at the supermarket" just doesn't have that "I'm applying my PhD in homemaking" cachet to it.

And I'll say here that I think a lot of this need to list up jobs that aren't the boring "we take all comers, if you're lucky enough to find an opening" normal young people starter jobs, is that these SAHDs, somewhere deep in the recesses of their brains, KNOW that they're shortchanging themselves with this lifestyle. They are wasting good time that they could be out there getting a real education or building real experience in some job field, just sitting around at home. So there's the need to justify to themselves more than anyone else that actually they're using their time productively, they've done something other than just exist and do housework that working people also routinely do.

[lilwriter85]

I completely agree about the photography. It isn't just some easy thing that anyone can do well. It requires talent, skill, practice, and often training. It's the same issue that comes up when people claim fundie wives and daughters could easily work in childcare or nursing care. No, these things require certain skills that many fundies lack. You can't just pick up a camera and get paid for it, and you can't just waltz into a daycare and get hired just because you've changed a bunch of diapers. I think both of these jobs are very undervalued in our society and that's part of the reason that so many people thing anyone can do them, but it's not true.

These SAHDs and fundie wives have been put in a position where they are qualified for almost no jobs, and that's exactly the point. They're put in this position to force them to be dependent on men. They're not supposed to be qualified to earn any money. I think a lot of them would struggle even with the jobs that are open to almost everyone. Some of the SOTDRT is so dismal that I wonder if the SAHDs could work a cash register and make change.

The only way most of them can get any money is to do "freelance" stuff for other fundies which will basically amount to charity.

I have also heard suggestions that SAHDs and fundie wives could get jobs in childcare or daycare. There is a small chance they could get those types of jobs. I agree with you, they wouldn't have certain skills that some parents or employers seek for nannies, or daycare workers. My cousin's girlfriend is majoring in early childhood education and she was recruited by a daycare center to work there part time. Some day care centers often recruit ECE students from colleges to work as assistants to the teachers and supervisors. They do it as a way of having good wokrers and also to help ECE students build experience in childcare and education. If one of the Duggars girls tried to get a job at a daycare center, I could the daycare center preferring to hire an ECE student or someone with ECE degree. I don't even think Anna Duggar who has a bullshit education degree from unaccredited Christian college could get hired at some places. With nannies, some parents can be very picky in the hiring process and I can see some people getting turned off by a SAHD applicant.

[luckystone]

You don't NEED training for transcription work in Australia, it must be different in the US.

Not sure why a fundie would want to be transcribing medical or legal recordings though. It would be incredibly defrauding and steal their innocence.

[lilwriter85]

You don't NEED training for transcription work in Australia, it must be different in the US.

Not sure why a fundie would want to be transcribing medical or legal recordings though. It would be incredibly defrauding and steal their innocence.

Here in the U.S., training isn't always needed for some types of transcription work. There is one company that I know of, that will hire some people who don't have transcription training. But the applicants need to pass a few tests. That particular company mostly gives part time work assignments and their pay rate is low. A SAHD could make some extra money with a company like that, but it wouldn't be too steady. But most of the time, training or experience in a similar field is wanted by employers.

If fundies want to medical or legal transcriptions they could be biting the bullet sometimes in order to help support their families. Wacky ZsuZsu occasionally does medical translations/transcriptions, and it is funny because she bashes the medical world a lot. She does that stuff once in awhile to help support her family. But I think a lot of fundies would avoid doing certain things to make a living. Jill Duggar used to talk about wanting to become a nurse and now she is doing doula/midwife training. My theory is that either an ATI rep or her parents convinced her ditch to become a midwife rather than a nurse. As a midwife, she only sees females naked. If she went to nursing school, she would have to men naked as well and she would have touch penises. I think if some SAHDs told their parents that they wanted to do medical or legal transcriptions, they would be told no right away.

[LucySnowe]

I've done medical transcription without any special training, but it was a short-term temp job and I had plenty of general admin experience under my belt already. And even then I had a lot of trouble picking up the lingo. Not something you could just breeze into from your dining room table education, I think.