Fact is, many women have no other choice, but to go out to work when married. Otherwise, the domestic budget arithmetic simply doesn't add up. (And you might as well enjoy the work, if you can!)
I'm not going to argue this...
...but I will say that on a personal level, I've never yet met a couple who was determined that the wife would stay home with the children that didn't make it happen (through God's provision!)
The key is, as I mentioned before, is to never begin to rely on the woman's wages for living. If the couple doesn't have the financial discipline to do this, perhaps it is best for a woman not to work after marriage. As long as from the moment the couple returns from the honeymoon, the wife's wages go into savings or into purchasing items for the home (not mortgage/rent, utilities, necessary expenses and groceries) then there should be no financial struggle once the woman quits when the babies arrive. This is what I did, what my sisters did, what my sister-in-law did, what my nieces and nieces-in-law do...I have a big family and not one of the women in our family has ever worked outside the home when the kids were young.
I was thinking of one other thing in regards to this thread and this is with women who have children, who, for whatever reason: death of her husband, abandonment by her husband... if she is a Christian woman, and has to leave her children and go find work to support them...SHAME ON HER CHURCH!!!! And if she has a Christian father and Christian brothers, shame on them as well.
In the case where a woman is left without the support of a husband and has children, then the Christian men of her family and her church should do whatever it can to support her.
This happened to one woman I went to church with. Her husband abandoned her and her three young boys ages 3.5, 2 and 8 months. Her family background wasn't Christian, so no help from any of them. But, our church stepped in. I was able to get her a job at the day care I worked at, a job that she could bring her boys and have them there while she worked. She was our cook and cleaning lady, she worked from 11:00 to 1:00 and came back and worked from 6:00 to 7:30. Her wages were a little over minimum wage, plus she and her boys were able to eat a hot lunch, M-F for free. Now, her wages from this job wasn't going to support her and three boys, but the church paid her rent, her utilities, car insurance and provided all her groceries. People from the church always made sure that the growing boys had plenty of clothing, mainly by families with boys of their own giving the kids out-grown clothing. One older couple sort of "adopted" this struggling family and always gave gifts of new clothing, toys, etc. With all this help, her wages from the job were enough to cover her gas and the minor expenses that come up in life.
(I should add here that I was privy to this information because we were close friends and she voluntarily told me...otherwise I wouldn't have known the extent of her help.)
At any rate, she was able to stay home with her kids the majority of the day and have them with her while she worked. She later remarried and her new husband adopted her boys as his own and the church ceased helping her. I believe this was very honoring to God and an example of how the Church should work in situations like this.