Should African housewives be paid for the labor they expend in sustaining their homes?

An African husband will dismiss it out of hand. He will justify his stance by arguing that since he paid the dowry, the deal is cut and dry. Therefore, the vexing question does not arise. Having paid the dowry, he is allowed to own his wife like his shirt.

A typical African woman has been described as a beast of burden because of what she undergoes in her home. She is the first to wake up and the last to go to bed. Her "what- to- do" menu is always full to the brim. Each task is extremely demanding. For example, even when there is no food available in the home, and there are no resources to afford it, it is still her unenviable duty to ensure that everybody goes to bed with a full stomach.

What is sometimes extremely cruel and unjust in these homes is the husbands just wake up in the morning to go and bask in the sun or start early drinking sprees. Any money in their possession is for paying their bar bills. When time is up, many storm home and expect ready food on the table; not just any kind of food. It must be palatable food like meat, chicken, or fish.

Where does the poor wife get money for these luxurious items? Normally she does her best to present some kind of food. Because the man has been drinking since morning and not eaten anything, he develops an appetite for meat and chicken which the poor woman cannot afford. If the food is not to his liking, the rogue husband is not ashamed to start beating his wife for not providing him with good food.

In Uganda, the issue of paying housewives is being taken seriously. A woman parliamentarian has made a strong plea for husbands to put their wives on their payrolls. Her next step would be to table a motion in this direction on the floor of the house, and lobby her colleagues to push for a law that will make the African woman's labor recognized and appreciated by their husbands.

By monetizing domestic labor, wives will be working fewer hours because the husbands will not be able to afford to pay for the extra workload.

Typically, wives in Africa clock a minimum of 12 hours a day. Alternatively, if they continued with this workload, and the husbands paid them, they would end up being very highly paid.

In neighboring Kenya, the prime minister's wife rejected a salary of $6,000 per month as a reward for her role as a hostess. For a similar role, the first lady of Kenya earns nearly $8,000. The difference here is that the kind of work these privileged ladies perform may not be as demanding because their domestic chores are managed by a retinue of domestic servants who handle all housework.

In a rejection letter to the head of public service, the prime minister's wife wrote: "The legacy I have built is not worth $6,000. I thank you for appreciating there is a heavy responsibility that comes by virtue of my position. But I will not take the money… Kenyans know I have taken care of my husband in good and bad times without help from the state, sometimes in spite of the state. I will continue doing that."