High Court Judge Teresia Matheka has declared in the Court of Law that being a housewife should be considered a full-time job in Kenya.
Justice Teresia Matheka says that it was utterly unfair for courts to rule that housewives have no significant contribution to the family’s financial growth as she was presiding over a matrimonial property dispute.
She’s of the idea that housewives should consider themselves working since they offer full-time services at their homes and thus, they shouldn’t regard themselves as being jobless in the first place.
Justice Matheka who strongly believes that raising children is a full-time job noted it isn’t fair that monetary contributions alone by a spouse during a marriage should be considered when laying claim to the whole property because even housewives contribute tremendously in taking good care of everybody in the family especially raising children.
“It is easy for the spouse working away from home and sending money to lay claim to the whole property purchased and developed with that money by the spouse staying at home and taking of the children and the family. That spouse will be heard saying that the other one was not employed so they did not contribute anything.
Raising children is a full-time job that families pay a person to do as well as cooking and cleaning. Hence, for a woman in employment who has to balance childbearing and rearing this contribution must be considered,” Justice Matheka said.
Making the statement as she read her ruling in a case where a divorced lady sought to have their family property sold and the money shared equally with her ex-husband, Justice Matheka urged other Judges to always consider the 9 months of pregnancy when every other time they preside over matrimonial cases.
Justice Matheka says that carrying a 9-months pregnancy is equivalent to working using surrogate mothers as a point of reference since a lot of couples usually tend to resort to hiring a surrogate to carry their children for them.
In the case that was brought to her, the Judge ruled that the property should be sold and the proceeds be divided equally between the former spouses. She also gave another alternative in her ruling, she ruled one of the spouses to buy out the other party by paying the other half of what the entire property is worth.
Lady Justice Teresia Matheka’s recent ruling might have made her super famous not only in Kenya but across the world with almost every other blog in Africa covering her ruling and her statements about being a housewife is a full-time job.
