ENOUGH IS ENOUGH:
I am sorry to read about what your mom went through having the burden of seven children with no man supporting them!
Having never read their Shepherd the Flock book, I was surprised by what you posted. It does definitively look as though there are ‘loopholes’ in favor of the man. These look to excuse him from his responsibility of being the provider of the family. To me, this all goes ‘beyond what is written’.
As someone who was not raised a Witness, I was appalled at the attitude against secular work that some JWs had. In reading some of the history of their religion, I wondered if this attitude might stem from the Depression era (when nobody had jobs) in rural places in Pennsylvania. The brothers rode bikes in farming communities and witnessed to people and they may have bartered (got eggs, etc.)
This must have been a pleasant and peaceful experience riding bikes down a country lane with not too many cares in the world.. But, times changed in the following decades and the world is the difficult place we see today! But, certain JWs (bethel writing committee) obstinately cling to this old mentality and this attitude got passed on to some in the congregations who imagine they are going to get handouts because they are ‘pioneering’.🙄