Housework is tough. Being a stay-at-home parent comes with many rewards but can be physically, emotionally and intellectually draining. Not to mention financially. Yet, this is a job that must be done. Either by a parent or caregiver – or by someone paid by the parent.

It is a job that keeps families fed and connected. It keeps homes clean, stocked and functioning. And, more importantly, ensures someone is present for the children during their formative years – an investment in future citizens.

Housework is defined as the unpaid work of maintaining a household. The European Institute for Gender Equality lists the categories: shopping for groceries, household chores (cleaning, cooking, caring for dependent children and adults) and maintenance, financial and administrative matters and management and planning tasks.

Many would agree this is an important job within a healthy society. Priceless, even.

Yet, attempts have been made to price this work. Last month, a housewife was awarded almost €28,000 after doctors left a surgical gauze inside her abdomen during an operation 10 years ago. The court calculated the woman’s loss based on minimum wage – a common practice in Maltese courts.

This rekindled a discussion about compensation for housewives.

In the 1990s, then archbishop Joseph Mercieca suggested mothers be paid to care for their families. At a time of low female participation in the workforce, it was a proposal met with suspicion.

The issue was brought up again in 2016 by Fr Charles Attard, director of the Church’s marriage preparation unit. He was speaking to the Parliamentary Committee for Family Affairs that eventually recommended compensation be given to housewives. This was shot down by experts who said it would backfire by discouraging women to enter the labour market – where they were needed.

The truth is parents do not do what they do for the money. They do it for their family. Sometimes out of choice, sometimes out of necessity.

In many cases, one partner – statistics show it is the woman – slows down their career to focus on the family. This is not a bad thing. Especially if the couple are working as a unit.

Problems emerge down the line: if the couple separates or when pension time arrives. The person who slowed their career is at a financial disadvantage. This is why governments around the world discussed compensation and courts have awarded it.

Calculating compensation is not straightforward as there are different formulas. These include costing individual housework roles by taking average salaries for them. Roles include cleaner, cook, driver, carer, manager, tutor, mentor.

Economist Kirsten Cutajar Miller worked out an estimate based on data of how much time men and women spend on housework (employed women 2.3 hours daily, men 1.6 hours).

Using the average wage rate for employed women and men for Malta, (€1,747 for women and €1,905 for men) she estimated the monthly average value of housework at €753.40 for women and €571.50 for men.

The question arises: Would a lawyer who stops work be worth the same as a parent who never went to school? And what about those who slow down rather than stop working completely? They still take a blow to their career and financial independence.

It has been argued that the solution is not financial compensation – but sharing the burden and legislating towards equality by, for example, aligning maternity and paternity leave.

Unless this happens, stay-at-home parents risk paying a price years down the line – no matter how priceless and noble their work is.