[Question]{.underline}: Is it permissible for a Catholic wife and mother to take a job outside the home?
[Answer:]{.underline} It cannot be accepted as something normal and approved by the Church for a wife and mother to be free to take employment outside the home for as long as her children are still dependent upon her care.
The working of mothers outside the home for a salary is called by Pope Pius XI “economic emancipation” in his 1930 encyclical on Christian Marriage, Casti Connubii: “This, however, is not the true emancipation of women, nor that rational and exalted liberty which belongs to the noble office of a Christian woman and wife; it is rather the debasing of the womanly character and the dignity of motherhood, and indeed of the whole family, as a result of which the husband suffers the loss of his wife, the children of their mother, and the home and the whole family of an ever watch guardian. More than this, this false liberty and unnatural equality with the husband is to the detriment of the woman herself, for if the woman descends from her truly regal throne to which she has been raised within the walls of the home by means of the Gospel, she will soon be reduced to the old state of slavery (if not in appearance, certainly in reality) and become as amongst the pagans the mere instrument of man” (Pauline Books, p. 38).
Towards the end of the same encyclical the Pope is even more explicit. He talks about the evils and the injustices that discourage married couples, and compares the evil of mothers having to work with that of not being able to find a suitable home. “If families, particularly those in which there are many children, have not suitable dwellings; if the husband cannot find employment and means of livelihood; if the necessities of life cannot be purchased except at exorbitant prices; IF EVEN THE MOTHER OF THE FAMILY TO THE GREAT HARM OF THE HOME, IS COMPELLED TO GO FORTH AND SEEK A LIVING BY HER OWN LABOR…it is patent to all to what an extent married people may lose heart” (p. 64).
Clearly, we cannot judge the particular situation of mothers who experience the need to work outside the home. There can be many reasons that could make this a necessary evil, such as sickness and unemployment of the husband, or a husband not receiving a just salary, sufficient to support the family. There can also be psychological and professional reasons why a wife and mother might be obliged to stay in the workforce outside the home. However, the Church clearly teaches that this is an evil. We cannot pretend that it is a good thing, or that it is indifferent, or that it is not going to do any harm to her children and family. Moreover no woman can be liberated from the home in this manner without changing her very awareness of what it is to be a Catholic mother and wife.
Consequently, it can only be tolerated as an unavoidable and necessary evil, and provided that it be only considered a temporary, short term arrangement, and that the utmost effort is made by the working mother and her husband to minimize the negative effects. However, it would be very wrong to claim that this is a good thing, or approved and allowed by the Church. It is at best an unavoidable and necessary evil, that one ought to be apologetic for, and never brag about.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.