Wifework

Becoming a wife will erode your mental health, reduce your leisure, decimate your libido, and increase the odds that you will be physically assaulted or murdered in your own home Is it any wonder that increasing numbers of single women are happy to stay that way? Husbands and wives may say they are committed to equality, but statistics show that wives still perform an astounding share of the physical, emotional and organisational labour in marriage - everything from housework to ‘sex work’. ‘Wifework’ is shorthand for this relentless routine of husband maintenance. In this funny, lucid, provocative and inspirational study Susan Maushart argues that Wifework lies at the core of women’s disillusionment. She documents the wifework dilemma and explores its consequences for all the stakeholders: men, women and children alike. If family life is worth saving, wifework will have to go. And that means rewriting the job description to make marriage more equitable, less exhausting and much more fun.