A mother.

The modern assumption is this: a stay-at-home mom does nothing. Her contribution is insignificant. How is that? Because we live in a materialistic society: value comes down to the amount of money one produces.

But let's recap what a stay-at-home mom does:

_1. She delivers her body, so that for 9 months, it literally becomes the safe abode from which another human being in gestation is sustained.
_two. She undergoes perhaps one of the most painful experiences of giving birth. If she's lucky, she'll proceed as normal; but many must undergo invasive surgery, which leaves scars for life. Regardless of whether she is a vaginal delivery or a cesarean section, her body, like that of a soldier returning from the battlefield, is never the same.
_3. Now comes the really hard part: nurturing and raising that child to adulthood. His breasts now become the source of life for that baby, his hands become his feet, every hour he wakes up in constant care of him, and even when he sleeps (which is not much) the eyes his are his. Her life is now in service, 24/7, to the loving care of that child. And even when that boy becomes a man, a mother's heartstring is never quite detached from the fruit of her labor. When he suffers, she suffers more; when he enjoys, she is satisfied.

What are the job requirements of a mother? Well basically an entry level experience from everyone else. She must become the teacher, counselor, therapist, lawyer, nurse, doctor, altogether, the main whole, for that child.

Tell me, you devotees of the golden calf: what price do you put on this?!

In the words of C. S. Lewis, "The housewife has the ultimate career, [for all] other careers exist for one purpose, and that is to support this ultimate career."