Wifework: What Marriage Really Means for Women Book

Maushart has some great insights, and the book is definitely engaging to the very end. I was particularly struck by the observation that the joint enterprise of marriage is seen by a majority of both men and women as the wife's problem; the husband is just a volunteer. This idea is perfectly illustrated by the following exchange in Chapter 15:

"'From now on,' my friend Jane announced to her husband recently, "I'm going to be available to help you with the housework and cooking any time you feel you need it. Please don't hesitate to ask.'

At first Ted was puzzled. 'What are you talking about?' he asked.

'I'm only making the same offer to you that you've been making to me for years,' Jane explained. 'It seems to make you feel like you're "sharing" the load. So I thought I'd give it a try myself.'"

What bothered me about the book were Maushart's snarky tone and name-calling when she talks about husbands in general and about anyone with whom she disagrees. It's unbecoming of a social scientist. And after reading the snippets she provides from her own marriages, I can't help but think that her marital experiences are at least somewhat outside the norm. I'm not going to blame her and say that it sounds like she chose wrong each time she decided to marry, but her former husbands do sound extraordinarily douchey and not typical of most men/husbands today.