In view of what was brought up on another thread and what has come to mind to me, what are the best arguments for the husband working and the wife staying at home? 

There is the argument against the natural marriage relationship that it is supposedly a necessity for both spouses to work these days and concern for if the husband dies. I find it a pretty annoying modern assumption.

Of course, are not there are lot of good ways to manage money better and opportunities for women to go to school and work if necessary at all?

Are there are any good traditional Catholic articles on this subject that demolishes the liberal arguments, particularly in principle? 

Thank you. 

My cousin died at 29 leaving a 25 yo widow with a 3yo and a 6 mo baby.  She had no education, no skills, no extended family to rely on.  Although his family helped where they could she ended up on welfare.

It's not like it was 100 years ago when a woman could go back to the farm/ranch and live with her/his parents and raise the children.  Without marketable skills of some sort women are devoured by the modern welfare system.

Oops, sorry.  She stayed a welfare queen and sank to the level that Uncle Sam provided.  Other men moved in/out of her life but 3rd hand I heard she didn't want to get married because she would lose her "benefits". At least she didn't keep reproducing so as to increase her $$.

Welfare seems to destroy people's initiative.  I know there are exceptions but rather than a leg up it seems to be an arm that holds people down.  

I'm not inclined to place the primary blame on the welfare system since I can't really envision a system run on specific regulations that can't be easily abused in such a messed-up social order. Ideally, your cousin's widow would be shunned for having ongoing marriage-type relationships to men she's not married to. So, she'd have to choose between being a truly single mother in need of assistance or remarrying and possibly not needing the assistance. But, as it is, it's likely no one in her social circle would criticize her for trying to take the advantages of both.

Improvements to the system can be made, but I don't know anything that would eliminate the situation you describe.

This is not a welfare issue. It's about planning. Welfare isn't like a savings account that a woman can fall back on because her husband failed to provide for her if he passed on. It's a step up, and should and can be used for such. I know of situations first hand in which it has been so.

I also disagree that today's society makes it harder for women who have lost their husbands. Things have not changed that much. It has always been hard on women when left alone with children. In colonial America children were oftentimes forced into indentures. In merry old England they were sent to poorhouses. Women throughout the centuries have married after being widowed because they had little or no choice in order to survive. The weak and vulnerable, which are women and children, are always at risk in such situations. Not everyone had parents, in-laws, or a farm to retreat to. Indeed, women and children cannot work a farm and were merely more mouths to feed. No one really wished to have them along. 

The "something to fall back on theory" is also not fool proof. If a woman never uses that degree, it becomes bankrupt about the time she is 30 depending on the field she is in. Even if she did work with that degree for a time, if she does not for a number of years it can become difficult to access it and use it by the time she is nearing 40. Of course, some degrees are better than others - nursing allows part-time hours, accounting part-time on-the-side work, some other degrees do as well, so that she can work part-time and keep up her skills. But when a women is knee-deep in diapers with three children under the age of 5 needing her care, or homeschooling  six or more kiddos, she does not have time to worry about keeping up her degree skills. She just wants sleep and to go the bathroom without someone calling for her. 

And a woman working does not ensure her survival if her husband does die. If their debts are high, or they have a lot fo loans, etc., she will still have a hard time after he is gone. She has learned to live on twice the money and now has to live on half of that.



  

In view of what was brought up on another thread and what has come to mind to me, what are the best arguments for the husband working and the wife staying at home?

There is the argument against the natural marriage relationship that it is supposedly a necessity for both spouses to work these days and concern for if the husband dies. I find it a pretty annoying modern assumption.

Of course, are not there are lot of good ways to manage money better and opportunities for women to go to school and work if necessary at all?

Are there are any good traditional Catholic articles on this subject that demolishes the liberal arguments, particularly in principle?

Thank you.

Here are a couple articles I wrote on this topic about 2 years ago:

1.  The Place of Women in Society:
http://whoshallfindavaliantwoman.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-place-of-women-in-society_13.html

2.  For Women Who Have No Choice But to Be Independent:
http://whoshallfindavaliantwoman.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-lady-should-act-when-placed-in.html